2.  6~ 


£ t\vc  Ihcologitj,/  g 


^yr  PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund 


Division 


Section 


- S<^<^ 


M .-  r --;■  '&£t  ^hiSW  #£>  t S*w  2 ••■•'  -A 


Wmm  -m 


M 


* 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/oldestnewestempi00spee_2 


THE  OLDEST 


AND 


The  Newest  Empire: 

China  and  the  United  States. 


WILLIAM  SPEER,  D.  D., 

Corresponding  Secretary  op  the  Presbyterian  Board  op  Education. 
Formerly  Missionary  in  China  and  to  the  Chinese  in  Califobnia. 


Who  does  not  see  that  henceforth  every  year,  European  commerce,  European 
politics,  European  thoughts  and  European  activity,  although  actually  gaining 
greater  force,  and  European  connections,  although  actually  becoming  more  in- 
timate, will  nevertheless  ultimately  sink  In  importance;  while  the  Pacific  ocean, 
its  shores,  its  islands,  and  the  vast  regions  beyond,  will  become  the  chief  theatre 
of  events  in  the  world’s  great  "hereafter? 

"William  H.  Seward. 


PITTSBURGH,  PA.: 
ROBERT  S.  DAVIS  & CO 
1877. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 
S.  S.  SCRANTON  & COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District 

of  Connecticut. 


Westcott  & Thomson, 
Stereotypers,  Philada. 


PREFACE. 


The  relation  which  the  writer  has  held  to  Christian  and  philan- 
thropic efforts  in  behalf  of  a race  whose  advent  to  our  shores  is  now 
awaking  universal  and  anxious  inquiry  as  to  their  character,  their 
capacities  and  their  probable  influence  upon  the  future  of  our  country 
and  continent,  has  imposed  upon  him  the  necessity  of  preparing  the 
present  volume.  In  the  years  1840  to  ’42  the  Opium  War  strongly 
drew  his  attention  toward  China,  where  was  presented  the  strange 
spectacle  of  a heathen  but  civilized  nation  suffering  the  bombard- 
ment and  destruction  of  numerous  cities,  and  the  slaughter  of  thou- 
sands of  its  people,  in  its  natural  and  righteous,  but  vain,  resistance 
to  the  fraudulent  introduction  among  them  of  what  it  justly  styled 
“ a flood  of  poison,”  the  track  of  which  in  society  was  black  and 
desolate  as  that  of  a stream  of  lava  down  a mountain’s  side.  In  1846 
he  was  sent  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  the  pro- 
vince of  Canton,  and  in  1852  to  California,  where  he  was  the  first  to 
preach  the  gospel  in  their  own  language  to  the  Chinese  coming  there. 
In  the  very  trying  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed  during 
the  first  few  years  of  their  immigration  to  a country  whose  people, 
language,  laws  and  usages  were  so  strange  to  them,  and  where  their 
peculiarities  became  the  subjects  of  grave  and  pernicious  misappre- 
hensions on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  it  pleased  God  to  make  his 
labors  the  means  of  rendering  to  them  important  benefits. 

These  facts  will  explain  whatever  of  peculiarity  this  book  may 
possess.  It  is  largely  made  up  of  materials  which  have  grown  up  in 
the  writer’s  experience,  labors  and  intercourse  with  the  Chinese 

under  circumstances  which  drew  out  the  best  side  of  their  character, 

3 


4 


PREFACE. 


warmly  interested  his  feelings  and  personally  attached  him  to  many 
of  them ; and  which  led  him  to  considei  the  nation  and  its  institu- 
tions in  a new  light.  He  has  been  made  to  carefully  and  practically 
examine  the  past  relations  of  China  with  the  United  States  and  this 
continent,  the  advantages  we  may  expect  to  derive  from  the  increas- 
ing political  and  commercial  intimacy,  and  from  the  introduction  of 
many  of  the  people  into  various  departments  of  labor  in  all  parts  of 
our  country,  and  the  duties  we  owe  to  these  new  wards  which  the 
great  Father  of  all  has  brought  and  placed  in  our  national  family. 

It  has  been  deemed  important  by  judicious  friends  that  in  connec- 
tion with  the  volume  as  thus  constituted  there  should  be  presented 
for  the  benefit  of  popular  readers  a summary  account  of  the  Chinese 
at  home,  the  history  of  their  empire,  their  manners,  arts,  institu- 
tions, etc.,  which  should  be  a ground-work  for  the  information  and 
suggestions  connected  with  their  relations  to  us.  For  some  of  the 
chapters  devoted  to  this  object  (the  third  to  the  twelfth)  I am 
indebted  chiefly  to  an  English  compilation  published  by  Bohn,  of 
London,  prepared  by  various  hands,  the  materials  of  which  were 
drawn  from  Gutzlaff’s  “ History  of  China,”  Williams’  “ Middle  King- 
dom,” Davis’  “ General  Description  of  China,”  and  other  well-known 
and  reliable  books.  To  the  portions  used  of  this  compilation  I have 
made  considerable  additions,  have  re-written  parts  of  them,  corrected 
many  mistakes  and  misapprehensions  into  which  compilers  not  well 
acquainted  with  the  Chinese  people  and  language  would  fall,  and 
given  to  them  a more  candid  and  Christian  tone. 

It  is  a strange  thing  that  we  Americans  have  acquired  the  fashion 
of  speaking  of  the  Chinese  with  contempt  and  dislike.  It  is  a 
fashion — and  it  should  be  changed.  In  almost  all  the  nations  of 
Southern  and  Western  Asia  and  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the 
Empire  of  China  has  been  generally  mentioned  and  described  in 
language  of  honor  and  admiration.  Louis  the  Fourteenth  of  France, 
and  many  other  distinguished  European  monarchs,  have  taken  the 
warmest  interest  in  its  history  and  institutions,  and  in  the  efforts  to 


PREFACE. 


5 


impart  to  its  people  the  advanced  science  and  the  religious  know- 
ledge of  the  West.  Some  of  the  most  intelligent  of  the  French 
nobility  have  gone  to  China  as  religious  missionaries,  with  the  royal 
advice  and  approbation,  and  that  too  at  times  when  it  was  probable 
that  their  lives  would  be  a sacrifice.  A leading  German  philosopher 
(Frederick  Von  Scldegel),  in  summing  up  the  characteristics  of  the 
Chinese,  says  that  their  skill  in  agriculture,  and  “ their  unique  and, 
in  their  way,  excellent  products  of  industry  and  manufacture,  prove 
the  very  high  degree  of  civilization  to  which  this  people  has 
attained ;”  that  they  are  “ entitled  to  a high,  even  one  of  the  high- 
est, places  among  civilized  nations,”  and  are  “ remarkable  for  the 
utmost  polish  and  refinement  of  manners.”  It  is  hard  to  account 
for  the  common  estimate  of  China  and  its  people  in  Great  Britain 
and  America  otherwise  than  by  attributing  it  to  the  influence  of  the 
bad  East  India  Company  and  the  diabolical  opium  trade. 

The  Chinese  are  a heathen  people,  and  much  that  is  evil  can 
truthfully  be  said  against  them.  But  why  do  we  judge  them  so 
much  more  severely  than  other  heathen  empires  which  have  not 
excelled  or  equaled  them  in  morality  ? The  Romans  were  a far  more 
depraved  and  cruel  people  than  the  Chinese.  Their  idolatry  was 
more  gross  and  loathsome. 

. . . . “ Idols  of  monstrous  guise, 

Terrific,  monstrous  shapes,  preposterous  gods, 

Of  fear  and  ignorance,  by  the  sculptor’s  hands 
Hewn  into  form  and  worshiped ; men  to  these, 

From  depth  to  depth  in  darkening  error  fallen, 

At  length  ascribe  th’  inapplicable  Name.”  1 

And  yet  many  of  our  poets  have  exhausted  the  language  of  praise 
upon  the  Romans  and  their  virtues.  They  have  painted  a glory 
which, 

. . . . “ Like  the  day,  diffused  itself,  and  still 
Blesses  the  earth — the  light  of  genius,  virtue) 

Greatness  in  thought  and  act,  contempt  of  death, 

God-like  example.”  2 


1 J.  Dyee,  Ruins  of  Rome. 


2 Samuel  Kogees,  Italy. 


6 


PREFACE. 


Can  we  not  then  exercise  candor  in  forming  our  opinions  of  the 
Chinese  ? In  the  case  of  a people  in  whom  we  and  our  descendants 
must  be  so  much  interested,  it  surely  becomes  us  to  act  with  fairness 
and  with  charity.  They  have  had  reason  to  judge  us,  our  institu- 
tions and  our  religion  with  severity.  This  hook  is  an  attempt  to 
make  our  people  better  acquainted  with  them,  and  to  incite  efforts 
which  shall  lead  them  to  hold  a better  opinion  of  us.  It  will  have 
subserved  a good  end  should  it  accomplish  no  more  than  to  bring 
their  manly  and  indignant  Remonstrance  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  thoroughly  before  the  attention  of  our  legisla- 
tors and  people. 

The  volume  is  made  as  full  and  complete  as  possible,  in  the  free 
use  of  a mass  of  original  and  other  materials  which  the  author  has 
been  long  accumulating  for  this  end.  For  any  defects  which  may 
be  discerned  in  it  he  can  only  plead  that  it  has  been  finally  put  in 
shape  for  the  press  in  hours  taken  from  rest  and  relaxation  amidst 
the  weighty  cares  of  a sacred  and  responsible  office  which  he  dare 
not  neglect.  Were  he  to  have  attempted  a formal  dedication  of  the 

book  it  would  have  been  in  the  line  of  the  work  in  which  he  is  now 

0 

engaged — to  the  Christian  young  men  of  the  United  States,  whose 
task  and  honor  it  will  be,  by  the  diffusion  of  the  blessings  of  educa- 
tion and  the  gospel,  to  accomplish  the  regeneration  of  this  Newest 
Empire  of  the  world  as  the  chief  human  means  of  effecting  that  of 
its  Oldest  Empire.  This  seems  to  be  the  consummating  work  which 
the  Church  and  our  nation  have  to  perform  in . order  to  prepare 
the  earth  for  the  Kingdom  of  the  Messiah. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Preface 3 

List  of  Illustrations,  with  explanations 19 


CHAPTER  I. 

introductory. 

Mammoth  Trees  of  California,  a symbol  of  the  Chinese  Empire — 21.  Several 
respects  in  which  it  is  the  first  in  the  world — 23.  Peculiar  Relations  to 
United  States — Source  of  our  Aborigines — 23.  Discovery  of  America — 
“Indians”  means  Chinese — Marco  Polo — 24.  Subsequent  efforts  to  reach 
China — Ponce  de  Leon — Object  of  Carver’s  visit  to  Minnesota — 25.  Era 
of  Discovery  of  Gold  in  California — Importance  of  the  Immigration  of  the 
Chinese  to  this  Continent — Interest  to  the  Historian,  to  the  Philosopher,  to 
the  Patriot,  to  the  Christian — 26.  Future  of  this  Immigration — The  two 
National  Elements — Resemblances  of  the  two  Countries,  of  the  people — Dif- 
ferences, as  to  History,  Arts,  Labor,  Population — Probable  Influence  of 
China  on  the  New  World — Importance  of  understanding  our  Relations 
and  Duties — 28.  Influence  of  the  two  nations  on  others  bordering  the 
Pacific  ocean — 31. 


CHAPTER  IL 

THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE  : THEIR  ORIGIN — RACES  IN  THE  EMPIRE. 

Sir  John  Maundeville’s  accounts  of  wonderful  races  in  India,  China,  etc. — 
Wealth  of  the  East — How  Diamonds  grow — 32.  Grotesque  ideas  of  our- 
selves held  by  the  Chinese — 34.  Heathen  Origin  of  these  fables — Tenden- 
cies of  Infidel  Science — 35.  Christian  Views — 36.  Fuhi  probably  means 
Noah — Early  Colonization — 37.  First  use  of  Silk — Origin  of  the  name 
“ China” — 38.  References  to  it  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New — 39. 
Name  “ Tsin”  from  Tsan,  the  silkworm — 40.  Fragments  of  the  Turanian 
race  in  China — 41.  Expelled  by  the  Aryans — 42.  Hill-tribes  of  China — 
Remarkable  resemblance  to  our  Indians — 43.  Various  Sources  of  Indian 
tribes  on  this  Continent — Note,  44.  Number  of  Population  of  China — Re- 
cent Census — 45.  Comparison  of  Censuses  of  last  century — Reasons  for 
supposing  them  true — 47.  Colonial  Possessions — Practical  bearings  of 
question  of  Population — 48. 


7 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS. 

Remarkable  Physical  Resemblances  between  China  and  the  United  States,  Lati- 
tude, Contour,  Gulf  Stream,  Climate,  River  Systems,  Minerals,  Vegetable 
Productions,  Races,  Institutions — 50.  Extent  of  Empire — Varieties  of  Cli- 
mate, etc. — 52.  General  Aspect — 53.  Yang-tsz-kiang  and  Yellow  rivers — 
55.  Provinces  of  North  and  East,  Peking,  Nanking,  regions  whence  Tea 
and  Silk  come — 57.  Mining  regions,  Volcanic  signs,  Petroleum,  etc.,  in  the 
West — 58.  Cassia  and  Camphor  districts — 59.  Description  of  Canton 
Province — 60.  Manchuria  and  Colonial  Regions  north ; Ginseng,  cause  of 
first  trouble  between  China  and  United  States,  letter  from  Rev.  Jonathan 
Edwards — 61.  Amoor  region — 62.  Mongols — Tibetan  tribes — 62.  For- 
mosa and  other  Islands — 64.  European  nations  long  counted  “tributary” 
— 64.  Zoology — Numerous  wild  Animals — 65.  Splendid  native  Birds — 
Fishing  Cormorants — Quail-fighting — 66.  Reptiles — 67.  Fish,  endless 
variety — Gold  and  Silver  fish — How  brought  to  America — 68.  Curious 
Insects — 68.  Splendid  Moths — Cricket-fighting — Cicadas — 69.  Sources  of 
Wax — Mantis,  or  Soothsayer — 70.  Abundance  and  variety  of  Vegetable 
Productions — 71.  Tea,  sources,  cultivation — 72.  Fortune’s  botanical  ex- 
plorations, takes  Tea  to  Assam — 72.  Difference  of  Green  and  Black  Tea 
— 74.  Processes  of  Manufacture — 75.  Painted  green  to  suit  Americans 
and  English — 77.  The  national  Beverage  in  China,  Tartary,  etc. — 78. 
Chinese  Eulogies  upon  it — 79.  Rice,  its  Cultivation — 79.  Simplicity  of 
Agricultural  Implements — 80.  Sugar  and  its  uses — 81.  Cultivation  of 
Cotton  and  Mulberry — Silk — 82.  Bamboo,  its  uses — Paper  and  Printing 
— 83.  Camphor  and  Tallow  trees — Japan,  or  Lacker  varnish — 87. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  POPULAR  FESTIVALS,  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

Chinese  Civilization  and  Refinement,  peculiar  but  genuine — 88.  Style  of  Houses 
and  Furniture — 89.  Cabinets,  Lanterns  and  Ornaments — 91.  Condition  of 
Women — Dress  of  Ladies — 91.  Dress  of  Gentlemen — 93.  Visiting,  Social 
Customs — 94.  Dress  of  Common  People — 95.  Boat-people — The  Queue 
— 96.  Tables  of  the  Rich — Birds’-nest  Soup — Sharks’  fins — 97.  Customs 
in  eating  and  drinking— 97.  Cookery — 98.  Rob’t  Fortune’s  description 
of  an  Inn — 99.  Amusements — Gambling — Kite-flying — Shuttlecock — 101. 
Theatrical  Performances  described  by  Tiffany — 102.  Religious  Forms — 
New  Year  the  great  Festival — Trying  to  Debtors — 107.  Feast  of  Lanterns 
— Dragon-boat  Festival — 110.  Public  reading  of  Moral  Essays,  the  Sacred 
Commands — 112.  Abundance  of  Schools — 114.  Examinations  of  Boys — 
115.  Examinations  of  Candidates  for  degrees — 116.  Higher  degrees,  re- 


CONTENTS. 


9 


joicings  over  successful  Candidates — 117.  Number  and  Character  of  Civil 
officers — 119.  Power  and  responsibility  of  highest  Officers — 120.  Peking, 
the  present  Capital — Description  of  city — 122.  Principal  Temples — Scenes 
in  Streets — The  new  part — Triumphal  Arches — 124. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  PATRIABCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 

First  nine  Sovereigns  of  China — Arts  they  introduced — First  Silk-weaving  and 
Husbandry — 127.  Imperial  honor  rendered  to  Agriculture — 128.  Early 
Inventions — Division  of  Time  by  sixties,  like  Chaldeans — 129.  Chinese 
origin  of  Mariner’s  Compass — 130.  Foundation  of  Political  Institutions — 
Gradual  Population  of  the  Country — 130.  Beginning  of  authentic  History 
— 131.  Chinese  Coinage — Useful  implement  for  counting — Division  of 
Weights  and  Measures  by  decimals — 133.  Markets — Hunting — Early 
Commerce — Warfare — 135.  Honor  to  Education — Estimation  of  the  art 
of  Writing — Industry  of  females  in  the  manufacture  of  Silk — 138.  Strug- 
gles of  rival  kingdoms — Beginnings  of  Commerce  across  the  Continent — 
140.  Era  of  Babylonish  Captivity — Colony  of  Jews  upon  the  Yellow  river 
— Purpose  of  Dispersion  of  J ews — 141.  Age  of  Confucius  the  turning-point 
in  Chinese  history — Life  and  Character  of  Confucius — 144.  Account  of  his 
Writings — 148.  Their  Moral  Influence — Stationary  Character  of  Chinese 
Institutions — 151. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 

China  during  the  Augustan  Age  in  Rome,  its  extent  and  greatness — 153. 
“ Prince  of  Peace”  on  the  throne  at  the  Birth  of  Christ — Universal  Expec- 
tation of  Christ — 155.  Chi  Hwang-ti,  Founder  of  the  first  General  Dynasty 
— 155.  Building  of  the  Great  Wall,  stupendous  character  of  the  Work — 
156.  Destruction  by  this  Emperor  of  previous  Literature — Burial  of  wife 
and  slaves  with  him  at  Death — 158.  Usurpation  of  throne  by  Liu-pang — 
159.  Invasions  of  the  Tartars — 160.  Invention  of  Paper  and  Books — 161. 
Paper  brought  to  Europe  by  the  Arabs — 162.  Invention  of  Ink — 163. 
Slavery — 164.  Traces  of  the  Apostles — 164.  Introduction  and  Character 
of  Buddhism — 165.  Native  System  of  Tauism — The  Elixir  of  Life — The 
Philosopher’s  Stone — 166.  Roman  Embassy  to  China — 168.  Chinese  En- 
voys to  Western  Nations — 169.  Frequent  Rebellions — 169.  Interference 
of  Women  with  Government — 171.  Employments  of  Common  People — 
Social  Customs — Rules  as  to  Names  of  Children — Laws  as  to  Inheritance 
— 171.  Costumes  of  People — Faith  in  Omens  and  Astrology — 174. 


10 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 

Superiority  of  China  to  Western  Nations  in  the  Middle  Ages— 176.  The 
Ancient  Capitals — 177.  Tartar  Invasions — 178.  Umbrella  an  Ancient 
Emblem  of  Royalty — Note  i.,  178.  Luxuriousness  of  the  Tsin  Dynasty 
— 178.  Revolution  under  Liu-yiu— 180.  Five  Dynasties  in  Rapid  Suc- 
cession— 181.  Extensive  Trade  with  Arabians  and  Persians — 181.  Silk 
brought  to  Europe  by  Nestorian  Missionaries — 182.  Illustrious  Race  of 
Tang— 183.  Justice  of  Tai-tsung — 184.  Famous  Christian  Statesman, 
Kwoh  tsz-i — Labors  of  Nestorian  Missionaries — 185.  Canals  and  increase 
of  Trade — 185.  Han-lin,  ©r  Imperial  College — 186.  Literature  for  the 
Young — 187.  Advance  of  Arab  Commerce — Mohammedans  in  China — 
Extant  Narrative  of  two  Mohammedan  Travelers — Their  account  of  Tea 
— 188.  Custom  of  binding  the  Feet  adopted — 190.  Corruption  of  the 
Court — Invention  of  Printing — 192.  Establishment  of  the  Lung  Dynasty 
— 193.  Irruptions  of  the  Tartars — Famous  Porcelain  Factories  in  Kiang- 
si — Exports  of  Silks  and  Spices — Decline  of  the  Empire — 195.  . Conquests 
of  the  Mongols  in  Asia — Become  Masters  of  China — 196. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 

Closer  Communion  of  China  with  sister  Nations — Romantic  history  of  Zingis 
Khan — 198.  Conquest  of  China  by  Kublai  Khan — His  illustrious  Cha- 
racter— 199.  Capital  established  at  Peking — 201.  Paper  Money — Grand 
Canal  opened,  Utility  of  it — 202.  Residence  of  Matteo  and  Nicolo  Polo 
in  China — Sent  as  Ambassadors  to  the  Pope  of  Rome — 204.  Visit  of 
Marco  Polo — Valuable  Narrative  of  his  Travels — 206.  His  Description 
of  the  Improvements  made  by  Kublai  Khan — Accommodations  for  Trav- 
elers— Extent  and  good  order  of  Cities — 208.  War  with  the  Japanese 
— 211.  Grand  Festival  on  Birth-day  of  Emperor — 212.  The  Imperial 
Palaces — Tartar  Hunts — 214.  Extent  of  Mongol  Dominions — 216.  Favor 
to  Buddhism — 217.  Decay  of  Mongols — 217.  A poor  lad  rises  to  the  Im- 
perial Throne — 218.  Comparison  of  China  and  Europe  at  that  Period — 
219.  Character  of  Marco  Polo — 219. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY — THE  MING. 

Emperor  Tai-tsu,  his  Reforms  in  the  Government  and  in  Buddhist  Monasteries 
— 221.  Conflicts  for  the  Succession — 222.  Proposed  Invasion  of  China  by 
Tamerlane,  his  Death — 223.  First  Arrival  of  Portuguese — Their  Piracies 


CONTENTS. 


11 


— 224.  Ferdinand  Mendez  Pinto  and  his  Companions — Their  Crimes — 
Well  flogged  by  the  Chinese — 225.  First  Portuguese  Embassy — 229.  Es- 
tablishment of  Portuguese  Colony  of  Macao — 230.  Romish  Missions — 
Francis  Xavier — 231.  Spaniards  at  the  Philippine  Islands — Colony  estab- 
lished at  Manila — 232.  Visit  of  Spanish  Monks  to  China — Sent  home — 
232.  Commencement  of  other  Romish  Missions — 233.  Emperor  Wan- 
lieh — Red  Book,  or  Court  Calendar — 233.  Anarchy  in  the  Country — Way 
prepared  for  the  Mancha  Tartars — Father  of  Wu  San-kwei — 234.  Down- 
fall of  the  Ming  Family — 238.  Dutch  first  come  to  China— Settlement  on 
Pescadore  Islands — On  Formosa — Dutch  Protestant  Missions — 238.  Eng- 
lish open  Trade — Captain  Weddell,  Destruction  of  Chinese  Forts  and  Junks 
— 240.  French  in  China — 242. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY — FIRST  EMPERORS. 

Education  of  the  Young — Emperor  Shun-chi — 243.  Destruction  of 
Nanking — Famous  maritime  chief  Koshinga — 243.  The  Queue,  a badge 
of  Subjection — Black  Turban  worn  in  Fu-kien — 244.  Form  of  the  Present 
Government — Private  Cabinet — General  Council — Six  Boards : Civil  Office, 
Finance,  Rites,  War,  Punishments,  Public  Works — 246.  Embassy  from 
Russian  Emperor  Alexis — Disputes  about  ko-tau — 249.  Dutch  Embassy — 
Their  Compliance — 250.  Influence  of  Jesuit  Adam  Schaal — 253.  Troubles 
of  the  Dutch  on  Formosa — 254.  Quarrels  of  Romanist  Monks  and  their 
Effects — 256.  Subjection  of  Formosa — 257.  Description  of  the  Island — 
Traces  of  Dutch  Missions — 258.  Greatness  of  Emperor  Kang-hi — 261. 
Jesuits  cast  Cannon  for  him,  prepare  Almanacs — Handsome  presents  made 
by  them,  their  success — Become  Politicians  and  Ambassadors — 263.  Kang- 
hi’s  wars  with  Eleuth  and  other  Tartars — Rejoicings  on  Sixtieth  Anni- 
versary of  his  Accession  to  the  Throne — 270.  Spring  Festival,  Emperor 
Ploughing — 271.  Kang-hi’s  “Sacred  Instructions,”  account  of  the  Book 
— 274.  His  Literary  Character — 276.  Troubles  with  Mongols — 277.  Eng- 
lish obtain  a footing — First  exports  of  Tea — East  India  Company — Quarrels 
with  the  Chinese — 278.  New  Embassy  of  Dutch — 280.  Successive  Mis- 
sions of  Russia — 281.  Overland  Tea — 286.  Installation  of  Emperor  Yung- 
ching — Severe  Persecution  of  Romanists — 288.  Mild  Character  of  Em- 
peror— 289.  Russian  Trade  at  Kiakhta — 290.  Mourning  at  the  Decease 
of  an  Emperor — 292.  Chinese  Funeral  Rites — 294. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  GREAT  KIEN-DUNG. 

Resemblance  of  Kien-lung  to  Kang-hi — Extraordinary  Length  of  their  Reigns 
— 296.  Princes  of  the  Empire — 297.  Persecutions  of  the  Jesuits — 299. 


12 


CONTENTS. 


Conquests  in  Western  Tartary — Defeat  in  Burmah — 299.  Wars  with  the 
Mountain  Tribes — 300.  British  Embassy  of  Lord  Macartney,  Origin  in 
trouble  with  Hong  Merchants — Narrative  of  their  Journey  to  Peking — 303. 
Their  Beception  at  the  Palace  of  Jeh-ho — 311.  Dignity  and  Condescension 
of  Kien-lung — 313.  Amusements — Tartar  ladies — Anniversary  of  the  Em- 
peror’s Birth-day — 315.  Eeturn  of  the  British  Embassy — 317.  Accession 
of  Kia-king — His  Profligate  Habits — Courageous  Kebuke  by  a Minister — 
Dissatisfaction  of  the  People — 319.  New  Efforts  to  expel  Roman  Priests 
— 322.  Increase  of  Piracy — A Female  Corsair — Unsettled  state  of  Country 
— 322.  Emperor’s  Life  saved  by  his  Son — 325.  Unsuccessful  British  Em- 
bassy of  Lord  Amherst — 325.  Floods  in  the  Yellow  river — 327. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 

Insurrections  among  the  Tartar  tribes — Among  the  Mountain  tribes  of  the  In- 
terior— 329.  Causes  of  the  Opium  War — Immense  amount  of  Opium 
smuggled — 331.  Lord  Napier  arrives  as  Superintendent  of  British  Com- 
merce, his  unhappy  Death — 333.  Succeeded  by  J.  F.  Davis,  he  by  Cap- 
tain Elliott — Increase  of  Smuggling — 335.  Celebrated  Chinese  Commis- 
sioner Liu — Twelve  Millions  of  Dollars’  worth  of  Opium  destroyed — 336. 
English  establish  themselves  at  Hong-kong — 338.  Naval  battle  at  the 
Bogue — 339.  Chinese  Army — 340.  Taking  of  the  Island  of  Chu-san — 
Negotiations  at  Tien-tsin — Return  to  Canton — 341.  Terrible  battle  at 
Bogue  Forts — Slaughter  of  the  Chinese — 343.  Ransom  of  Canton  for  six 
millions  of  Dollars — 345.  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  as  Plenipotentiary — Cap- 
ture of  Amoy — 346.  Brave  defence  of  Chiu-hai  by  the  Tartars — Fearful 
slaughter  of  them — 348.  Beautiful  Country  about  Ningpo  and  Hang-chau 
— 349.  Capture  of  Ningpo — 351.  Characteristic  Appeal  of  People  to 
British  army — 352.  Bloody  battle  with  Tartars  at  Cha-pu — 353.  Fleet 
in  the  Yang-tsz-kiang — 354.  Desperate  defence  of  Chiu-kiang — Suicide 
of  the  Tartar  General — 355.  City  of  Nanking — Porcelain  Pagoda — An- 
cient Glory  of  the  City — Treaty  of  Peace — 356.  Stipulations  of  the  Treaty 
— Twenty-one  millions  of  Dollars  paid  for  Opium  and  British  expenses — 
358.  Resistance  to  opening  of  Fuh-chau — 359.  Advantages  of  port  of 
Shanghai — 360.  Improvements  at  Hong-kong — 361.  Hostile  Publications 
of  Chinese  and  mobs  at  Canton — 361.  Bad  Character  of  Hong-kong — 363. 
Effects  of  Opium  War  upon  the  Emperor  Tau-kwang — Upon  the  Chinese 
people — 364.  Interest  felt  in  Europe — Hon.  Caleb  Cushing  Ambassador 
from  United  States — Treaty  of  Wang-hia — Hon.  A.  H.  Everett,  Resident 
Minister — 365.  General  distress  in  China  — Rebellions  in  Kokonor, 
etc. — Energy  of  Liu — 366.  Death  of  Tau-kwang — His  amiable  Character 
—367. 


CONTENTS. 


13 


CHAPTER  XHI. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 

Opium  War,  Great  Crisis  in  the  history  of  China — 370.  Opium,  ancient  use 
as  a Narcotic  by  Greeks,  Hebrews,  etc. — 371.  Introduction  from  India — 
372.  Destructive  Effects — Resistance  of  Chinese  Government — Immense 
Injury  to  the  people — 373.  Enormous  Profit  to  Great  Britain — Its  Respon- 
sibility— 375.  Effect  on  Christian  Missions — Darkest  Stain  on  the  Nine- 
teenth Century — 377.  Connection  of  America  with  it — Duty  of  Great 
Britain — 379.  Robert  Morrison,  first  Protestant  Missionary — His  transla- 
tions of  Scriptures  and  Dictionary — Bridgeman,  first  American  Missionary 
— The  Chinese  Repository — 381.  New  Translations — Preaching  in  Chinese 
— Missionary  Hospitals — 381.  Mission  Schools  and  extensive  Results — 383. 
Succession  of  Hien-fung  to  the  throne — Disorders  in  the  country — 384. 
Hung  Sew-tsuen  receives  Christian  Books — Beginning  of  the  Tai-ping  Re- 
bellion— Bright  promise,  sad  End,  partial  good  Results — 385.  New  War 
with  Great  Britain  and  France — Origin  in  Opium  smuggling — 390.  Bom- 
bardment of  Canton — Capture  of  Forts  on  the  Pei-ho — Treaty  of  Tien-tsin— 
Heavy  Assessment  for  expenses — Legalization  of  Opium  trade — 391.  Fail- 
ure of  Chinese  government  to  Ratify — Capture  of  Peking — Sacking  of  the 
Summer  Palace — Death  of  the  Emperor — 393.  New  Ports  opened — Treaties 
with  various  European  Powers — 395.  French  Protection  to  Romanism — 
Present  State  of  Romish  Missions — Reason  of  Opposition  of  Government  to 
them — 396.  Russian  Treaty — Accession  of  territory  on  the  Amoor  river — 
Prospective  Colonization  and  importance — 399.  Present  condition  of  For- 
eign Commerce  with  China — 401.  Opening  of  Route  by  Isthmus  of  Suez 
— Its  History  and  Importance — 402.  Late  Rebellions — Mohammedans  of 
South-west — 405.  Troops  drilled  by  American  and  European  Officers — • 
Advantages  gained  by  them — Rejection  of  Vessels  of  War  purchased  in 
Great  Britain — 406.  Youthful  Emperor  Tung-chi — Regency  of  Empress 
Dowager  and  Prince  Kung — 407. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE. 

Parly  Trade  of  East  India  Company  with  American  Indians — 410.  Resistance 
to  Introduction  of  Tea — Destruction  of  cargoes  at  Boston — First  American 
ship  to  China — Beginning  of  Fur  trade — 411.  Effect  upon  Discovery  on 
our  Pacific  coast — Expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clarke — Enterprises  of  Astor — 
Benefits  to  United  States — 412.  Influence  in  Christianizing  Sandwich  and 
other  Islands — 415.  Advancement  of  the  art  of  Ship-building — Era  of 
Clipper  Ships — Of  Steam  Vessels — 417.  Important  Provisions  of  treaty  of 
Wang-hia — 419.  Friendly  feeling  to  the  United  States — Interesting  Trib- 


14 


CONTENTS. 


ute  of  Seu  Ki-yu’s  Geography  to  George  Washington — Present  of  Portrait 
to  him  from  our  Government — His  Degradation  and  restoration  to  power 
— 420.  New  American  treaty — Its  Provisions — First  Announcement  by 
the  Atlantic  Cable — 426.  Recent  Development  of  Foreign  trade — Danger 
of  Alienation  of  Chinese  territory — 427.  Honorable  career  of  Mr.  Burlin- 
game— Origin  of  Mission  to  Western  Powers — 429.  Recent  treaty  with 
China,  its  Effects — Honors  to  the  Embassy — 431.  Treaty  with  England, 
Presentation  to  Queen — Address  of  Lord  Stanley — 433.  Treaties  with 
other  European  Powers — Probable  Effects — 435. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT. 

Variety  of  Races  found  on  this  Continent — Civilization  of  Aztecs,  Toltecs, 
Peruvians,  etc. — 438.  Question  of  their  Origin — 438.  Asiatic  Source — 
Dates  of  their  Arrival — 438.  Evidence  from  Agencies  of  Nature — Great 
Ocean  Currents,  Pacific  Gulf  Stream — Courses  of  Winds,  Monsoons — Ty- 
phoons— 439.  Evidence  from  Recent  Wrecks  on  our  coast — Japanese  and 
Chinese  junks,  Remains  on  this  Continent  and  the  neighboring  Islands — 442. 
Spread  of  the  Malay  family  among  Pacific  islands — 444.  Evidence  from 
Legends  among  Asiatic  nations,  Tartars,  Japanese,  etc. — 445.  Translation 
from  Chinese  Encyclopaedia,  on  Fu-sang — Interesting  Discussions  as  to  Ap- 
plication— Opinions  of  eminent  Scholars — 446.  Corroborations  from  Aztec 
Customs,  etc. — Letters  of  Cortez — Oriental  character  of  Aztec  life  and  insti- 
tutions— Answer  to  objections — Aztecs  certainly  Buddhists — Other  Legends 
— 449.  Evidence  from  Resemblances  of  Modern  American  Languages  and 
Customs  to  Asiatic — 454.  Tribes  on  either  side  of  Behring’s  straits — Re- 
semblances of  Tchuktchis,  Malemutes,  Esquimaux,  etc. — 455.  Athapascas 
and  Apaches — 456.  Customs  and  Legends  in  Peru,  Oriental  and  Buddhist 
— 457.  Remains  of  Wonderful  Military  Roads,  described  by  Humboldt — 
459.  Future  of  Peru  and  Mexico — 461. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

Ancient  Separation  of  Old  and  New  Hemispheres — Anglo-Saxon  Occupation  of 
New — Tuition  of  African  Race — Advent  of  Asiatic — 462.  Emigrations  of 
Chinese  Races  in  former  Ages — 463.  To  other  Asiatic  Regions — Chinese 
in  Indian  Archipelago — Pleasing  picture  of  Chinese  Life  in  Borneo — In 
Java — 464.  Reasons  for  opposition  to  Intercourse — 468.  Commencement 
of  Immigration  here — Early  Usefulness — 470.  Interest  in  them,  subsequent 
Opposition — 471.  All  from  Province  of  Canton — 472.  No  Coolies  in  Cali- 
fornia— What  are  Coolies  ? — No  Caste  in  China — 473.  Motives  and  Means 
of  Emigration — 478.  Hindi  Coolies  in  Guiana — 479.  Chinese  in  Cuba 
— In  Peru  and  Chincha  Islands — Terrible  Crimes  of  Coolie  trade — 479 


CONTENTS. 


15 


Prohibitions  of  by  various  Nations — English,  French  and  American  Con- 
ventions with  Chinese  Government — 483.  Validity  of  Contracts  for  Labor 
— 485.  Extent  of  future  Immigration — Causes  of  Increase  in  the  Past — 
486.  Number  of  Chinese  in  California — 487.  Their  Dispersion  over  other 
States,  Territories  and  Countries — 488.  Influence  of  Varieties  of  Popula- 
tion of  different  Provinces  on  future  Immigration — 489.  They  must  be 
treated  as  Freemen — Laws  necessary  for  Emigrant  Ships — 490.  Fidelity 
to  Contracts — 491.  Families  should  be  brought — Our  Duty — 492. 

CHAPTER  XVH. 

CHINESE  LABOR. 

Elements  which  make  Chinese  Labor  peculiar — 493.  Its  Characteristics — In- 
dustry of  the  People — Exhibitions  of  this  in  China — Illustrations  to  foreign- 
ers— 494.  Economy — Utilization  of  Materials — Regard  for  Utensils,  Time, 
etc. — Wages — 496.  Intelligence — General  Information — Cheerfulness  and 
Patience  in  Work — 497.  Variety  of  Employments — Early  Occupations  in 
this  Country — 499.  Faults  of  Chinese — 500.  Difference  in  Individuals — 
Practical  Difficulties  in  Employing  Chinese — 502.  Fields  for  Application 
of  Chinese  Labor — Characteristic  of  Servants — 502.  Usefulness  in  Agricul- 
ture— Value  in  California — 503.  Cultivation  of  Cotton — Original  Seats  of 
it  in  Asia — Cotton  Regions  of  China — Peculiar  Adaptation  of  Pacific  Coast 
to  Cotton — 504.  British  Plans  for  Cotton  Culture  in  Indian  Archipelago — 
Superiority  of  our  Advantages — 506.  Manufacture  of  Silk,  its  great  Value 
— Extraordinary  Advantages  of  Pacific  coast — Chinese  Labor  an  important 
item — 509.  Silk  at  recent  Agricultural  Fair — Japanese  Colony — Compari- 
son of  Japanese  and  Chinese — 510.  Variety  of  Moths  which  produce  Silk, 
a provision  for  various  climates — 512.  English  Experiments  in  India — 
Varieties  in  China  and  America — English  Silk  Supply  Association — 513. 
Manufacture  of  Silk  in  the  United  States,  Extent,  Results,  Prospects — 517. 
Other  Chinese  Textile  Plants — 520.  Introduction  of  Tea — Success  of  Brit- 
ish in  Assam — Tea  Plant  in  Java,  Brazil  and  our  Southern  States — 521. 
Rice — Sugar — Fruits — Pea-nuts — Value  of  Bamboo — 523.  Capacity  of  Chi- 
nese as  Common  Laborers — Workmen  in  factories — Miners — 524.  Em- 
ployment on  Public  Works — Our  Debt  to  them  in  construction  of  Pacific 
Railroad — Immense  Field  for  their  employment — 525.  Value  as  Con- 
sumers of  American  products — 527.  Favorable  Testimonials  from  various 
classes  of  Americans — 528. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 

Objectionable  Sources  of  Information  as  to  Chinese  institutions — Roman  Priests, 
British  Opium  Traders — 531.  Juster  Estimate  needed — Resemblance  to 


16 


CONTENTS. 


the  United  States — 532.  Analogies  in  Ancient  Rome — In  India — In 
Russia — 534.  Leading  Features  of  the  Chinese  Government — Beautiful 
Theory  of  the  Imperial  power — 537.  Principles  of  the  Administration  of 
it — Preferment  based  on  Education — Interest  of  Literary  Examination — 
538.  Guards  against  Abuses — Detachment  from  Local  Influences — Term 
of  Office  three  years — Imperial  Board  of  Review — System  of  Official  Re- 
ports— “ The  Peking  Gazette” — 540.  Popular  Organizations — The  Clan — 
Analogy  to  Jewish  Kindreds — General  Benefits,  Number  and  Influence — 
543.  Trade  Associations  or  Guilds — 547.  Local  government  by  Town 
and  District  Councils  — Resistance  to  Foreigners  after  Opium  War — To 
Imperial  Government — Robber  in  the  Wa-lam  Temple — 547.  Disturb- 
ances at  Canton — Bombardment  of  the  City  by  English  and  French  Allies 
— 549.  Opinions  of  Eminent  Scholars — 550.  Practical  Corruptions  and 
Abuses — Foundations  for  Better  Things — 551. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 

Continual  Puzzle  to  Americans — Absurd  Stories — 554.  Ui-kuns  or  Companies 
— Description  of  a Building  in  San  Francisco — Account  of  Members— 555. 
Translation  of  “Rules  of  the  Yeung-wo  Company” — Membership — Fees — 
Regulations  as  to  Building — Provisions  as  to  Charity — Settlement  of  Dif- 
ficulties— 557.  Conduct  of  Members — Rules  as  to  Meetings — Arrangements 
for  Collecting  of  Debts — Officers  to  be  elected,  their  Duties — 560.  Amusing 
attempt  of  a Company  to  be  freed  from  Taxes — Introduction  of  first  Idol — 
564.  Translation  of  Account  of  Sze-yap  Company — Property — Membership 
— Numbers — Fees — Objects  for  which  Money  is  expended — Officers  elected 
— No  Slaves — 565.  General  Character — Utility  and  Propriety  of  these  In- 
stitutions— 567.  Objections  to  permanent  Continuance — 569. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 

Scene  in  Chinese  Mining  Camp — Night  attack  of  Robbers — A Remarkable  Plea, 
and  its  Confirmation — 572.  Barbarous  Occurrence  at  a Mining  Bar — 573. 
Cloud  of  Villains  around  Chinese  Camps — Conscientiousness  in  Robbing 
Heathen — Illuminating  influence  of  an  act  of  Justice — 574.  Acts  of  vio- 
lence by  Tax-collectors — 575.  Threefold  cover  to  Atrocities — Astonishing 
Decision  of  Supreme  Court  of  California — Prudent  Conduct  of  the  Chinese 
— 576.  Gov.  Bigler’s  Messages — Admirable  Reply  of  Lai  Chun-chuen — 
Extracts — Why  Families  are  not  brought — Why  Chinese  Customs  differ 
from  ours  — Objections  to  Gamblers  answered  — Charges  of  bad  character 
replied  to — Protest  against  being  confounded  with  Negroes  and  Indians — 
Willingness  to  leave  the  Country — 578.  Repeal  of  Oppressive  Law — 581. 


CONTENTS. 


17 


Continued  Troubles  — Injury  to  Americans — Favorable  Testimonies  of 
Newspapers — 582.  Preparation  of  a Remonstrance  to  Congress — The  Au- 
thor— Character  of  the  Paper — Moral  Tone — Indignation  of  Chinese — Sum- 
mary of  Topics — 583.  Translation  of  Remonstrance  to  Congress — 588. 
Reasons  for  making  the  Appeal — Americans  do  not  conform  to  their  Relig- 
ious Knowledge — Chinese  Principles  of  Government — Treatment  of  For- 
eigners by  the  Chinese  Government — 588.  Continual  Trials  of  Chinese  in 
California — Murderous  Injuries — Persecutions  of  Miners — Illegal  Conduct 
of  Tax-collectors — 594.  Objectionable  Usages — Request  as  to  Abandoned 
Women — As  to  Punishment  of  Gambling — 599.  Proposition  as  to  Testi- 
mony in  regard  to  Criminals — Request  either  to  Grant  Justice  or  Enact  a 
Law  fixing  time  for  Departure  of  Chinese  from  the  Country — 601.  Duty  of 
Congress  and  State  Legislatures  as  to  this  Plea — 603. 

CHAPTER  XXL 

MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

What  are  Heathen  ? — Generic  Attributes — 605.  Touching  admissions  of  Igno- 
rance as  to  Divine  things  by  Confucius  and  Mencius — 606.  Ideas  of  Hier- 
archies in  Earth  and  in  Heaven — Worship  of  the  Moon — Origin  of  Theat- 
rical Performances  connected  with  it — 607.  Worship  of  god  To-ti — History 
as  a man — Worship  in  California  of  the  god  of  Fire — Of  god  of  Health — 
Of  goddess  of  Mercy — Temples — 610.  Favorite  Religion,  Worship  of  the 
Dead — Annual  Celebration  of  it — Most  popular  Festival  in  China — 612. 
Transportation  of  the  Bones  of  the  Dead — Benevolent  Association  for  the 
purpose — Translation  of  an  extract  of  a Report — Divinations  as  to  Places 
of  Burial — 614.  Superstition  as  to  Powers  of  Nature — Translation,  Flag- 
staff to  the  god  Tsz-mi-yuen  to  counteract  evil  influences — Bondage  to  ideas 
of  Luck — Translation  of  list  of  Unlucky  Days — Remedies  for  Evil  Influ- 
ences— 616.  Ideas  of  Future  Reward  and  Punishment — Translation  of 
tract  by  Lau-tsz — Buddhist  ideas  of  ten  Judgment  gods  and  of  Punishment 
of  Sin — 619.  Buddhist  Monastic  Institutions — People  worship  what  and 
when  they  please — No  Caste,  or  indecent  or  cruel  Forms — Appointment  of 
Sacrifices  by  City  Officers — 621.  Fragments  of  Primeval  Truth — No  Evil 
Spirits  known  as  “Joss” — Imaginary  Monsters — 622.  Toleration  of  hea- 
thenism does  not  imply  the  Immunities  of  Christianity — Basis  of  our  Com- 
mon Law — 624.  Right  of  Chinese  to  bear  Testimony — Grounds  of  Compe- 
tency— Legal  Authorities — Form  of  Oath — Notions  of  American  Justice, 
“ Plenty  money,  no  hang” — 627.  Bad  females  in  California — Blame  cast 
on  Americans — Children — High  Character  of  Female  Sex  in  China — 630. 
Gambling  in  California,  bad  effects,  censured  by  Better  Class — 633.  Opium- 
smoking, sad  Cases — 635.  Good  traits — Few  Brawls — No  Public  Drunk- 
enness— Charity  to  Poor,  and  to  Whites — Charitable  Associations — 635. 
Diverse  elements  of  Morality — 637. 

2 


18 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TIIE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 

The  two  great  Streams  of  the  World’s  Civilization,  Eastward  and  Westward- 
Divine  Purpose  in  our  Continent  and  Nation — G38.  Preparation  in  Asia — 
In  California — 640.  Effects  upon  Europe  and  Asia,  Humboldt’s  opinion — 
641.  Religious  Results — Interest  of  the  greatest  minds  in  the  office  of 
America — The  philosopher  Berkeley — Objects  of  his  College  in  Rhode 
Island— Gifts  to  Yale  College — 642.  Jonathan  Edwards — His  labors  and 
writings — 645.  The  Point  from  which  to  settle  questions  as  to  the  Chinese 
here— 646.  America  the  School  of  the  Nations — Lessons  of  our  Arts  to  the 
Chinese,  Steamers,  Railroads,  etc. — Of  our  various  Sciences  and  Discoveries 
— Of  our  Politics — Of  our  Religious  Forms  and  Influences — 646.  Political 
Questions  as  to  Chinese  Residence,  Employments,  Testimony,  Voting  and 
Education — Generic  Principle  in  them  — Great  Principles  which  decide 
these  Questions — Ideas  of  Alex.  Hamilton — 651.  Preparatory  Qualifications 
needed  by  Chinese — 655.  Three  Chief  Elements  of  Danger  to  America  from 
them — Their  Paganism  and  its  relation  to  our  Politics — Their  Ignorance 
of  our  Language  and  Laws,  our  Duty  to  Educate  them-^Their  Temporary 
Residence,  Necessity  of  care  as  to  Naturalizing  them — 656.  Our  Social  and 
Personal  Influence — 658.  Sketch  of  Presbyterian  Mission  in  California — 
659.  Baptist,  Episcopal  and  Methodist  missionaries — 661.  Recent  general 
Religious  Interest  in  the  Chinese — Spirit  which  should  animate  our  People 
—662. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 

The  three  Empires  of  the  Future,  the  United  States,  Russia  and  China — General 
Resemblances — 663.  Remarkable  Prophecies  of  Napoleon  as  to  Russia 
and  America,  as  to  Results  of  English  Wars  with  China — 663.  Predictions 
of  William  II.  Seward,  twenty  years  ago — 664.  The  Future  of  Asiatic  Rus- 
sia, of  our  Pacific  Coa-t,  of  South  America,  of  the  Pacific  Islands — Illustra- 
tions in  Sandwich  Islands,  Decrease  of  Natives,  Introduction  of  Chinese 
Labor,  Results — 666.  Classes  of  Americans  needed  in  China  for  Develop- 
ment and  Advancement — 668.  Efforts  of  Government  in  the  way  of  Pro- 
gress— Military  Discipline,  Arsenals,  War  Steamers  built  at  Shanghai,  San 
Francisco  Mission-scholar  made  a high  Official,  Another  represents  his 
People  before  a Congressional  Committee,  Opening  of  Coal  Mines,  Inland 
Navigation,  Coast-trade,  Telegraphs,  Difficulties  as  to  Railroads,  University 
at  Peking  and  other  Schools  of  Foreign  Science,  Indifference  of  Chinese 
Statesmen  as  to  Prevalence  of  Christianity — General  Concern  in  the  Empire 
as  to  Foreign  Religion  and  Trade — 669.  Joyful  Picture  of  China  all  and 
completely  Christian — The  Gospel  the  Primary  Power  of  Civilization — 671. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


(WITH  EXPLANATIONS.) 


COMPANY  HOUSE,  SAN  FRANCISCO.  Miner  carrying  Baggage  in  baskets — Gateway — 
Shops  on  either  side Frontispiece, 

CHINESE  MINERS.  California.  Digging — Carrying  Dirt — Washing  with  a Rocker. 

To  face  page  28 


SCENE  ON  THE  RIVER.  Canton.  Ferry  and  other  Boats — Landing-Place — Gateway  to 
Temple  of  Honan — Crowds  in  Street 48 

COCHIN-CHINESE  DIGNITARIES 61 

FISHING  WITH  CORMORANTS.  Fisherman  on  Raft,  with  Basket,  Hand-net  and  Birds — 
Taking  in  Bird  with  a Fish 68 

PREPARATION  OF  TEA.  Workingmen  in  Factory  firing  the  Tea — Merchant  giving  direc- 
tions— Coolies  bringing  Tea-leaves  in  Baskets 76 

CLEANING  COTTON.  Workman  beating  np  the  Cotton  with  bow,  supported  by  elastic  rod 
fastened  to  his  back 82 

DOMESTIC  SCENE.  Ladies  amusing  themselves  Playing  Cards — Nurse  with  babe  and  small 
boy — Lattice  Work — Flowers  in  Pots 92 

IMPLEMENTS  FOR  EATING  Chopsticks,  knives,  toothpicks,  etc.,  with  cases 98 

PLAYING  AT  SHUTTLECOCK  WITH  THE  FEET, 102 

EXAMINATION  OF  PRISONER.  Judge — Clerk  recording  Confession — Prisoner  on  his  knees 
— Policeman  ready  to  apply  Bamboo 120 

ITINERANT  BARBER.  Case  of  drawers — Furnace  with  basin,  etc 124 

ARCHER  IN  CHINESE  ARMY.  An  Inferior  Officer 136 

TEMPLE  OF  BUDDHA.  Hall  containing  a greenish  marble  Monument  covering  a Toe-nail 
of  Buddha — Columns  of  dark-red  wood — Worshipers — Musicians 166 

STOCKING  MAKER.  Sewing  Stockings  cut  from  cotton  cloth 188 

CHINESE  SOLDIER.  The  “ Tiger  Guard” 214 

STREET  PUNISHMENTS.  Whipping  Thief  through  the  Streets,  with  gong  to  call  attention  226 

OFFICER  AND  WIFE.  Robes  of  rich  embroidery r 246 

BUDDHIST  TEMPLE.  Images — Robed  and  shaven-headed  Priests  reciting  Liturgies — Burn- 
ing printed  Paper,  gathered  from  streets,  in  a furnace,  as  an  Act  of  Merit 276 

MILITARY  OFFICER 300 


19 


20 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


STREET  SCENE  IN  CANTON.  Head  of  Liin  Hing,  or  “Associated  Prosperity”  Street — Pla- 
cards of  Charms  or  Advertisements — Barbers  and  Eating-stall  outside — Meat-market  inside. 

To  face  page  336 

CHAMBER  OF  A LADY  OF  RANK.  Dressing  the  Hair — Maid-servant  playing  the  Guitar — 
Lattice  Work — Ornamented  Bedstead  and  Furniture 356 

VIEW  NEAR  CANTON.  Side  of  small  Temple — Foreign  soldiers 380 

OUTSIDE  OF  WALL,  CANTON.  Sedan-chair — Water-carriers 390 

CHINESE  BANKERS,  SAN  FRANCISCO.  Ordinary  business  dress — Reading  newspaper 418 

HON.  ANSON  BURLINGAME.  First  Plenipotentiary  from  Chinese  Empire  to  Western 
Powers 430 

WIVES  OF  CHINESE  MERCHANTS.  San  Francisco 452 

TOBACCO  MANUFACTORY.  San  Francisco.  Dress  of  workmen  partly  Americanized 472 

ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  RICE  CULTURE,  copied  from  a Chinese  Work : 

1.  Ploughing  foe  Rice.  Using  the  Buffalo,  or  “ Water-ox” 500 

2.  Transplanting  Rice,  when  half-grown — Irrigating  by  bucket,  across  the  dike 512 

3.  Hulling  Rice,  with  a rude  mill 524 

4.  Returning  Thanks  to  the  gods  and  spirits  after  Harvest.  Rural  Temple— Offer- 

ings— Laborer  and  family  gratefully  worshiping 538 

CHINESE  RESTAURANT  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  Circular  Door — Religious  and  poetical 
Inscriptions  on  Walls — Chinese  Guests  and  Waiters 556 

INTERIOR  OF  IDOL-TEMPLE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  Idol— Table  with  large  Censer- 
Standards — Large  Candles 564 

CHYLUNG  & CO.  No.  640  Sacramento  street,  San  Francisco.  Porcelain  and  Silk  goods  in 
windows — Camphor-wood  Chests — Attendants 588 

CHINESE  THEATRE.  The  Stage — Actors,  one  in  female  dress — Musicians — Spectators 608 

CONSULTING  A GOD  FOR  LUCK.  Casting  lots  before  idol— Priest  comparing  corresponding 
Tables — Furnace  for  burning  waste  printed  paper 634 

MR.  TSUI  SHING-CHEUNG,  Elder  of  the  Chinese  Presbyterian  Church,  San  Francisco 656 

SCHOLAR  OF  PRESBYTERIAN  MISSION  SCHOOL,  San  Francisco Same  plate. 

CHINESE  SHOP  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  Merchant  reading  American  Newspaper 664 


CHINA 


AND  THE 

United  States. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

IN  the  heights  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  the 
Creator  has  set,  in  royal  majesty,  the  throne  of  the 
sovereigns  of  the  vegetable  world.  The  emotions  with 
which  the  beholder  gazes  oil  the  mammoth  trees  are 
those  of  an  awe,  wonder,  and  interested  delight,  which 
is  in  proportion  to  the  measure  of  his  intelligence  and 
sensibility.  There  before  him,  one  of  the  largest  of 
living  things  on  earth,  is  a plant  which  began  to  grow 
with  the  beginning  of  that  era,  defined  by  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God,  by  which  all  Christian  nations 
mark  the  events  of  their  history.  Scores  of  generations 

1 The  mammoth  trees  of  California  well  deserve  this  honorable  title.  The  bao- 
bab and  dragon  trees  of  equatorial  Africa  are  as  large  in  diameter — some  of  them 
measuring  thirty-six  feet  through — but  they  are  not  more  than  one-third  of  the 
height  of  these  magnificent  conifer®;  several  of  which  are  over  twenty  feet  taller 
than  Trinity  Church  spire  in  the  city  of  New  York.  In  the  section  of  one  cut 
down  in  1854,  I counted  twelve  hundred  and  forty-eight  annual  rings,  and  cal- 
culated the  extent  of  the  surface  of  its  stump,  at  eight  feet  from  the  ground,  to 
be  about  four  hundred  and  sixty  square  feet.  There  are  some  which  are  older 
and  larger. 


21 


22 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  men  and  beasts  have  lived  and  gone  back  to  their 
dust  since  it  put  forth  its  first  leaves.  Empires  have 
risen,  swayed  the  affairs  of  continents,  and  fallen ; but 
it  has  continued  to  grow.  Its  heart  and  top,  and  some 
of  its  limbs  are  in  parts  decayed  and  scarred  with  fire 
and  storms.  And  yet  it  stands  an  immense  tower  of 
green  foliage,  possessed  of  a mighty  vitality  which 
promises  it  an  existence  of  centuries  to  come. 

There  is  an  empire  with  which  we  associate  naturally 
such  an  emblem,  the  oldest  empire  in  the  world.  It  was 
planted  in  the  earliest  generations  after  the  renovation 
of  the  world  and  of  human  history  by  the  Deluge. 
Assyria,  Persia,  Egypt,  Greece,  Borne,  have  risen  and 
gone ; their  pride,  their  wealth,  their  dominion,  all  are 
things  of  the  past.  But  the  Chinese  race  is  still  the 
same,  scarcely  tinged  by  the  admixture  of  others.  The 
primeval  religion,  customs  and  literature  are  still  vig- 
orous and  fresh.  Virtuous  examples  of  their  own  an- 
cestors who  lived  four  thousand  years  ago  encourage  the 
generation  of  to-day.  School-books  prepared  by  a con- 
temporary of  the  Jewish  prophet  Daniel  are  yet  the 
manuals  of  the  teacher  of  children.  The  language  is 
the  unchanged  monosyllables  of  the  infancy  of  mankind. 
The  social  usages  are  those  which  have  been  made  fa- 
miliar to  us  in  the  patriarchal  pictures  of  the  book  of 
Genesis.  We  contemplate,  amidst  all  the  ruins  Time 
has  wrought  elsewhere,  such  an  empire  with  constant 
amazement  and  curiosity.  And  when  we  behold  at 
length  a change  in  the  wind  of  time  beginning  to  blow 
the  seeds  of  this  stupendous  ripe  tree  across  the  waters, 
so  that  they  are  seen  taking  root  in  our  new  virgin  soil, 
the  study  of  its  whole  character  becomes  to  us  a subject 


INTRODUCTORY. 


23 


of  such  interest  as  lias  few  parallel  to  it.  We  are  the 
newest,  as  China  is  the  oldest,  empire  of  the  world.  Our 
institutions  are  hut  the  raw  experiments  of  yesterday. 
We  are  only  beginning  to  realize  that  we  have  a national 
life,  and  that  God  has  formed  it  for  some  great  commis- 
sion, the  mere  alphabet  of  which  we  are  just  learning 
to  stammer. 

The  nations  of  the  West  boast  of  their  greatness;  but 
how  paltry  they  seem  in  the  eyes  of  an  inhabitant  of 
that  venerable  empire ! And  is  this  pride  without  foun- 
dation ? It  alone,  in  Asia — and  many  Chinese  know 
this — is  equal  to  the  whole  of  either  of  the  other  con- 
tinents of  the  world  in  the  number  of  its  people. 
Bewildering  as  it  is  to  our  ideas,  there  can  be  no 
just  exception  taken  to  the  computation  which  makes 
its  population  to  amount  to  the  one-fourth  of  the 
entire  family  of  man.  It  stands  first  of  all  existing 
nations  in  agricultural  productiveness,  first  in  some 
important  manufactures,  first  in  the  sum  of  the  wealth 
of  its  subjects.  China,  to  one  who  can  bring  his  mind 
to  measure  what  these  statements  embrace,  seems  almost 
a world  of  itself — a world  which,  like  those  strange 
binary  stars  which  revolve  about  each  other  and  commu- 
nicate mutual  powerful  influences,  but  are  each  a distinct 
sun,  has  moved  in  all  time,  strangely  connected  with,  yet 
separate  from,  the  world  of  our  ancestry  and  history. 

Interesting  as  China  may  be  to  the  other  nations  of 
the  world,  it  is  related  to  ours  and  to  our  continent  by 
ties  far  closer  than  to  any  others.  The  first  and  the  last 
find  themselves  most  nearly  allied. 

There  is,  first,  the  bond  of  interest  which  is  suggested 
in  that  most  fascinating  and  romantic  subject  of  inquiry, 


24 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  origin,  history  and  character  of  the  aboriginal  races 
of  the  New  World.  That  they  were  Asiatic  no  honest 
and  unprejudiced  mind,  when  thoroughly  informed  upon 
the  subjects  which  evince  it,  can  doubt.  Physical  geog- 
raphy, the  literature  of  China,  the  legends  of  the 
American  nations,  and  the  records  of  the  Spaniards, 
all  make  it  as  manifest  as  any  great  historic  question  can 
be  which  is  not  a matter  of  direct  testimony. 

Then  we  people  of  America  may  be  said,  in  some 
sense,  to  owe  to  China  the  discovery  of  our  continent  by 
Europeans  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  the  mere  use 
of  a general  for  a particular  appellation  which  prevented 
our  Indians  from  being  called  by  us  “Chinese.”  Colum- 
bus meant  Chinese.  They  were  called  “Indians,”  because 
all  Eastern  Asia  was  then  called  in  Europe  the  “Indias,” 
or  “Indies,”  just  as  the  Arabian  and  other  Mohammedan 
writers  style  all  the  countries  east  of  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago, the  “ Chinas.”  The  ambition  of  Columbus  to 
cross  the  Western  ocean  was  kindled  by  Marco  Polo’s 
wondrous  tales,  written  two  centuries  before,  of  the 
boundless  riches  and  grandeur  of  Cathay,  Mangu  or 
Mangi,  and  Cipango.  The  first  of  these  words  is  the 
Mongol  name  for  China  Proper ; the  second  is  the  same 
with  the  native  name  for  the  Manchu  Tartars,  who 
descended  from  the  shores  of  the  ocean  to  the  north  of 
China  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  yet  hold  the 
enviable  position  of  its  supreme  lords ; the  third  is  easily 
recognized  by  a Chinese  scholar  as  Jih-pwan-ko,  “ the 
land  of  the  sunrise,”  which  we  adopt  in  our  abbreviation 
“Japan.”  The  doctors  of  Florence  assured  Columbus 
that  a voyage  of  four  thousand  miles  would  bring  him 
to  China.  In  the  names  and  productions  of  the  tropical 


INTRODUCTORY. 


25 


islands  which  he  discovered  he  endeavored  to  trace  those 
he  found  mentioned  in  the  glowing  narrative  of  the 
Polos.  And  he  died  in  the  belief  that  he  had  only- 
found  a new  path  to  the  empire  of  China,  and  that  the 
islands  he  had  visited  were  upon  the  coasts  of  China. 

We  trace  this  same  high  visionary  hope  in  the  jour- 
nals of  the  succeeding  Spanish,  English,  Portuguese  and 
French  discoverers.  The  grand  prize  at  which  they  all 
aimed  was  China.  Their  long  voyages,  north  and  south, 
amidst  strange  archipelagoes,  and  up  rivers  and  deep  arms 
of  the  sea,  were  efforts  to  push  their  way  through  to  the 
Chinese  waters.  They  set  Chinese  names  on  some  of 
the  divisions  of  the  land  or  sea,  a few  of  which  still 
remain.  They  explored  vast  forests,  and  underwent 
astonishing  hardships  and  sufferings,  to  discover  the 
fountain  of  immortality,  whose  waters  the  Tauist  priests 
of  China  have  for  ages  pretended  to  be  under  their 
control.  There  is  no  more  pathetic  picture  in  human 
history  than  that  of  the  aged  Ponce  de  Leon,  exhausted 
by  wars,  self-indulgence  and  disappointments,  fitting  out 
three  ships  at  his  own  expense,  going  forth  westward  in 
search  of  the  way  to  the  fountain  that  was  to  renew  the 
vigor  and  enjoyment  of  youth,  discovering  our  Florida, 
and,  upon  the  shore  where  he  expected  to  find  a point 
of  rest  and  departure,  pierced  by  the  arrows  of  the 
inhabitants  of  his  fancied  paradise,  and  retreating,  to  the 
island  of  Cuba  to  die. 

To  tell  all  that  this  continent  owed  in  geographical 
explorations  over  every  portion  of  it,  between  the  Carib- 
bean sea  and  the  Arctic  zone,  to  the  determined  and 
oft-renewed  efforts  to  penetrate  barriers  which  Nature 
had  made  vast  beyond  their  supposition  at  that  time, 


26 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


■would  itself  afford  a subject  worthy  of  a volume.  Even 
iu  the  last  century,  the  first  acquaintance  of  one  of  our 
own  race  with  the  new  and  beautiful  State  of  Minnesota 
was  made  in  the  journey  of  Carver,  one  of  whose 
objects,  he  tells  us,  in  his  account  of  his  travels,  was  to 
“ facilitate  the  discovery  of  a north-west  passage,  or  a 
communication  between  Hudson’s  Bay  and  the  Pacific 
ocean,”  and  to  “ promote  many  useful  discoveries,”  and 
thus  “open  a passage  for  conveying  intelligence  to  China 
and  the  English  settlements  in  the  East  Indies  with 
greater  expedition  than  a tedious  voyage  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.” 

But  all  the  interest  of  America  in  the  Chinese  based 
upon  these  matters  of  the  past  is  small,  very  small,  com- 
pared with  that  which  arises  out  of  those  of  which  we 
witness  the  beginnings  in  this  our  own  generation.  The 
discovery  of  gold  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America 
was  the  commencement  of  revolutions  in  the  com- 
merce, the  politics,  the  religions  of  the  world,  to  which 
there  have  been  no  parallels  in  all  the  history  of  the 
past. 

The  subject  of  Chinese  immigration  to  this  continent 
is  one  of  an  importance  and  interest  which  language  can 
hardly  exaggerate.  The  reader  of  history  beholds  in 
this  contact  of  the  populations  of  America  and  China, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  the  termination  of 
that  westward  course  of  empire  which  began  in  the  first 
periods  of  the  history  of  man ; and  in  it  the  completion 
of  one  great  cycle  of  the  Divine  government  on  earth,  and 
the  commencement  of  another — the  glorious  and  golden 
age  of  mankind.  The  philosophic  mind  finds  abundant 
material  for  the  profoundest  thought  in  the  numerous 


INTRODUCTORY. 


27 


questions  of  a political  and  social  nature  which  arise 
from  the  return  of  the  grand  current  of  civilization, 
transformed  by  all  the  changes  which  so  many  ages  and 
influences  have  wrought,  and  freighted  with  the  spoils 
of  so  many  lauds,  to  the  regions  whence  it  originated ; 
and  in  considering  the  results  as  they  will  affect  the 
nations  which  hold  that  civilization  in  its  oldest  and  in 
its  newest  forms,  the  chief  empire  and  the  chief  repub- 
lic of  the  world.  The  patriot  must  speculate  upon  the 
effects  of  the  introduction  of  a new  and  boundless 
supply  of  productive  labor,  of  mechanical  skill  and  of 
commercial  enterprise,  as  they  shall  tend  to  settle  the 
national  embarrassments  which  have  followed  our  em- 
ployment of  the  African  race ; as  they  may  prove  useful 
in  developing  the  resources  of  the  western  portion  of 
the  continent,  and  elevating  it  to  a full  level  with  the 
eastern  portion  ; and  as  they  may  modify  our  institutions 
and  possibly  even  our  form  of  government.  The  Chris- 
tian must  watch  with  deepest  concern  the  infusion  of 
new,  subtle  and  powerful  elem  -mts  of  religious  error  and 
forms  of  vice  amidst  the  more  bold  and  unregulated 
mind  of  our  nation.  And  the  man  who  waits  for  the 
consolation  of  the  Israel  of  the  latter  days  must  praise 
God  for  the  new  form  which  his  almighty  power  has 
given  to  the  immense  work  of  regenerating  the  con- 
tinent of  Asia,  through  the  multitudes  of  its  people  to  be 
brought  hither,  enlightened  with  Christianity  and  re- 
turned to  it  again.  Taken  in  whatsoever  aspect  we  will, 
the  coming  of  the  Chinese  to  America  is  excelled  in 
importance  by  no  other  event  since  the  discovery  of 
the  Xew  World.  It  is  one  of  the  impulses,  beyond  all 
human  conception  or  management,  by  which  God  is  mov- 


28 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


ing  the  history  of  mankind  onward  to  its  great  con- 
summation. 

To  what  this  immigration  may  come,  and  what  its 
influence  upon  the  future  of  this  nation,  upon  North 
America  and  upon  South  America,  no  finite  mind  can 
imagine.  There  are  two  national  elements  of  the  pro- 
blem. Separated  by  an  ocean  whose  passage  every  year 
becomes  more  expeditious  and  cheap,  which  is  hemmed 
not  many  degrees  distant  by  a continuous  shore-line, 
along  which  already  an  electric  telegraph  has  been  par- 
tially constructed,  lie  two  vast  countries.  Each  resem- 
bles the  other  in  location,  contour,  climate,  and  other 
physical  conditions  and  capacities,  more  than  it  does  any 
other  of  the  countries  of  the  earth.  Each  is  occupied  by 
a people  naturally  thoughtful,  earnest,  acquisitive  and 
enterprising ; each  by  a people  strangely  conglomerate, 
yet  strangely  homogeneous;  each  by  a people  among 
whom  intellect  and  education  constitute  the  only  patent 
of  nobility ; each  by  a people  the  freest  upon  its  own 
continent,  and  governed  mainly  by  rulers  of  its  own  elec- 
tion ; and  each  country  is  now  in  the  travail  of  a change 
from  old  bondage  and  feebleness  to  new  power,  light  and 
influence,  which  will  be  felt  to  the  very  corners  of  the 
earth.  But  with  so  much  that  is  alike  in  these  countries, 
it  is  easy  to  group  together  some  respects  in  which  they 
differ  to  the  farthest  extremes.  The  foundation  of  the 
one  occurred  within  the  memory  of  men  now  living : the 
other,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient,  and  is  the  most  permanent,  of  the  empires  of  the 
world ; which  was  extensive  as  Borne  when  Borne  was 
most  extensive,  and  built  the  vastest  work  of  human 
architecture — its  Great  Wall — for  its  protection  against 


INTRODUCTORY. 


29 


northern  barbarians  two  thousand  one  hundred  years 
ago.  The  one  is  a country  where  the  utmost  advances 
of  scientific  knowledge  are  continually  made  practical 
for  the  development  of  its  wondrous  agricultural  and 
mineral  wealth : the  other  exhibits  the  arts  which  are 
necessary  to  the  increase  and  comfort  of  man  carried  to 
the  farthest  limit  which  it  is  possible  for  them  to  reach 
until  the  principles  of  true  science,  founded  on  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  shall  have  been  infused  into  them.  In 
the  one,  labor  is  scarce,  more  difficult  to  obtain  and 
dearer — in  the  other,  it  is  more  abundant  and  cheaper — 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  A man  in  China 
receives  but  six  cents  for  a day’s  work,  while  one  in 
America  gets  from  two  to  five  dollars ; and  many  a good 
workman  in  the  former  country  keeps  his  family  for  a 
month,  or  even  for  a summer,  upon  what  the  family  of  a 
workman  here  would  spend  in  a day.  The  one  is  settled 
only  here  and  there,  in  the  localities  most  favorable  to 
agriculture,  to  trade,  to  manufactures  or  to  health : the 
other  is  densely  inhabited  by  a population  whose  num- 
bers bewilder  the  mind ; a province  of  its  eighteen  may 
contain  as  many  people  as  the  United  States,  or  Great 
Britain,  or  France;  and  the  whole  of  them  sustain  one- 
fourth  of  the  entire  human  race.  Into  the  immense  soli- 
tudes of  the  one,  whose  only  previous  occupants  were  a 
few  scanty,  roving,  barbarous  Indian  tribes,  immigrants 
have  pressed  from  all  the  nations  of  the  world : out  of 
the  other  are  flowing,  and  have  for  two  centuries  flowed, 
multitudes,  which,  after  they  have  peopled  and  reno- 
vated, or  rendered  great  benefits  to,  many  countries  of 
Northern  and  Central  Asia,  and  the  numerous  great  and 
rich  islands  within  two  or  three  thousand  miles  of  them, 


30 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  EE  WEST  EMPIRE. 


have  recently  begun  to  cross  to  the  New  World,  and 
already  number  in  the  United  States  one-third  as  many 
as  the  total  remains  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  The  know- 
ledge of  modern  ages  in  the  West,  and  the  introduction 
of  labor-saving  machines,  will  expel  myriads  from 
China,  as  the  bees  swarm  and  hive  in  the  spring ; and 
any  reasonable  man  who  will  consider  no  more  than  the 
statements  of  this  paragraph  must  conclude  that  attempts 
to  prevent  their  coming  to  the  New  World  are  as  ridic- 
ulous and  futile  as  it  would  be  to  endeavor  to  change 
the  laws  of  Nature,  which  cause  the  soil  of  the  moun- 
tains to  descend  into  the  valleys,  or  the  floods  of  the  rain 
to  force  a channel  to  the  sea.  The  day  is  coming  when 
many  millions  of  Chinese  will  be  dispersed  over  the 
Pacific  coast,  the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  wastes  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  continent,  the  provinces  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America,  the  whole  continent  of 
South  America,  where  already  there  are  several  thou- 
sands of  them,  and  over  all  the  island  groups  or  island 
continents  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  whose  indolent  races  are 
departing,  having  accomplished  their  mission,  to  make 
room  for  them.  To  find  a place  and  use  for  a handful 
of  poor  African  slaves  who  were  brought  here  in  a con- 
dition little  above  the  brutes,  in  the  plan  of  the  great 
temple  of  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  the  Supreme 
Governor  of  the  world  is  rearing  upon  this  continent  to 
be  a blessing  to  all  its  nations,  has  cost  us  an  indescrib- 
able amount  of  discussion  and  trouble,  ending  in  a stu- 
j>endous  and  calamitous  civil  war.  An  hundred-fold 
more  important  is  it  to  understand  fully,  and  to  treat 
with  wisdom  and  justice  from  the  beginning,  the  race 
whom  He  is  now  bringing  to  our  shores — one  so  incom- 


INTRODUCTORY. 


31 


parably  greater  than  the  negro  in  numbers,  in  civiliza- 
tion, in  capacity  to  bestow  immense  benefits  on  our  land 
or  to  inflict  upon  it  evils  which  may  end  in  its  ruin. 
Our  faith  in  that  God  and  in  his  word  leads  us  to  hope 
that  their  coming  shall  be  for  good  to  us  and  to  them. 

To  present  with  satisfaction  to  the  reader  the  new 
world  of  interests  opened  up  around  the  Pacific  ocean, 
it  will  be  also  necessary  to  look  beyond  the  two  nations 
represented  in  our  title,  “ The  Oldest  and  the  Newest 
Empire,”  and  to  take  some  notice  of  the  changes  taking 
place  also  in  Asiatic  Russia,  in  the  countries  bordering 
upon  China  on  the  west  and  south,  in  other  countries 
besides  our  own  in  the  New  World,  and  in  the  numer- 
ous fertile  islands  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  both  in  the 
smaller  central  groups  and  in  those  which  separate  it 
from  the  Indian  ocean,  and  which  approach  continents 
in  magnitude,  and  in  the  variety  and  extent  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  their  soil  and  mines.  The  destiny  of  these 
parts  of  the  world,  and  of  the  races  which  inhabit  them, 
is  to  be  decided  by  the  influences  that  shall  proceed 
from  the  United  States  and  China. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE  : THEIR  ORIGIN — RACES  IN  THE  EMPIRE. 

ITTHEN  tlie  valiant  knight  of  St.  Albans,  Sir  John 
’ ' Maundeville — who  informs  us  that  he  passed  the  sea 
on  St.  Michael’s  Day  of  the  year  1322,  and  has  written 
down  his  narrative  in  English,  that  “ other  noble  and 
worthy  men,  if  he  err  from  defect  of  memory,  may 
redress  it  and  amend  it” — traveled  through  many  parts 
of  Europe  and  Asia,  he  saw  or  learned  of  “many  divers 
folks,  and  of  many  divers  manners  and  laws,  and  of 
divers  shapes  of  men.”  In  the  far  East  he  learned  of 
men  and  women  that  “ have  dogs’  heads ; and  they  are 
reasonable  and  of  good  understanding,  except  that  they 
worship  an  ox  for  their  god.”  There  was  a country 
where  there  is  “ a kind  of  snails  so  great  that  many  per- 
sons lodge  in  their  shells,  as  men  would  do  in  a little 
house;”  another,  where  “are  white  hens  without  feathers, 
but  they  bear  white  wool,  as  sheep  do  here.”  “ In  one 
of  these  isles  are  people  of  great  stature,  like  giants, 
hideous  to  look  upon : and  they  have  but  one  eye,  which 
is  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead,  and  they  eat  nothing 
but  raw  flesh  and  fish.  And  in  another  isle  toward  the 
south  dwell  people  of  foul  stature  and  cursed  nature, 
who  have  no  heads,  but  their  eyes  are  in  their  shoulders. 
In  another  isle  are  people  who  have  the  face  all  flat, 

32 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


33 


without  nose  and  without  mouth.  In  another  isle  are 
people  that  have  the  lip  above  the  mouth  so  great  that 
when  they  sleep  in  the  sun  they  cover  all  the  face  with 
that  lip.  And  in  another  isle  there  are  dwarfs  which 
have  no  mouth,  hut  instead  of  a mouth  they  have  a little 
round  hole ; and  when  they  eat  or  drink  they  take  it 
through  a pipe,  or  pen,  or  such  thing,  and  suck  it  in. 
And  in  another  isle  are  people  that  have  ears  so  long 
that  they  hang  down  to  their  knees.  And  in  another 
isle  are  people  that  have  horses’  feet.  And  many  other 
divers  people  of  divers  natures  there  are  in  other  isles 
about,  of  which  it  were  too  long  to  tell.”  The  account 
of  the  empire  of  China  by  this  writer  is  equally  vera- 
cious and  entertaining.  “ The  greatest  river  of  fresh 
water  in  the  world,”  he  says,  is  there,  which,  “ where  it 
is  narrowest,  is  more  than  four  miles  broad.”  “ That, 
river  goes  through  the  land  of  pigmies,  where  the  people 
are  small,  but  three  spans  long.  These  men  are  the  best 
workers  of  gold,  silver,  cotton  and  silk,  and  of  all  such 
things  that  are  in  the  world.  And  they  have  oftentimes 
war  with  the  birds  of  the  country,  which  they  kill  and 
eat.  And  of  the  men  of  our  stature  they  have  as  great 
scorn  and  wonder  as  we  should  have  among  us  of 
giants.”  “ Cathay  is  a great  country,  fair,  noble,  rich 
and  full  of  merchants.”  “They  are  the  most  skillful 
men  in  the  world  in  sciences  and  all  crafts ; for  in  sub- 
tlety, malice  and  forethought  they  surpass  all  men  under 
heaven ; and  therefore  they  say  themselves  that  they 
see  with  two  eyes,  and  the  Christians  see  with  but  one, 
because  they  are  more  subtle  than  they.”  Of  the  gran- 
deur of  the  emperor  and  his  many  thousands  of  great 
lords  and  nobles  he  relates  wonderful  things.  In  the 


3 


34 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


palace  “ all  the  vessels  that  men  are  served  with,  in  the 
hall  or  in  chambers,  are  of  precious  stones;  and  especially 
at  great  tables,  either  of  jasper,  or  of  crystal,  or  of  ame- 
thyst, or  of  fine  gold.  And  the  cups  are  of  emeralds, 
and  sapphires  or  topazes,  of  perydox,  and  of  many  other 
precious  stones.  Vessels  of  silver  there  is  none,  for  they 
set  no  value  on  it  to  make  vessels  of ; but  they  make 
therewith  steps,  and  pillars  and  pavements  to  halls  and 
chambers.”  In  order  to  impress  the  people  of  Western 
lands  more  sensibly  with  the  amazing  wealth  of  the  East, 
the  worthy  knight  says  that  in  India  diamonds  grow 
upon  the  rocks  in  the. sea  or  in  the  mines  of  gold. 
“ They  grow  many  together,  male  and  female,  and  are 
nourished  by  the  dew  of  heaven;  and  they  engender 
commonly,  and  bring  forth  small  children  [of  their  own 
kind],  that  multiply  and  grow  all  the  year.  I have 
oftentimes  tried  the  experiment,  that  if  a man  keep 
them  with  a little  of  the  rock,  and  wet  them  with  May- 
dew  often,  they  shall  grow  every  year,  and  the  small  will 
grow  great.  He  who  carries  the  diamond  upon  him,  it 
gives  him  hardiness  and  manhood,  and  it  keeps  the 
limbs  of  his  body  whole.  It  heals  him  that  is  lunatic, 
and  those  whom  the  fiend  pursues  or  torments.  And  if 
venom  or  poison  be  brought  in  presence  of  the.  diamond, 
anon  it  begins  to  grow  moist  and  sweat.”  1 

Now  these  stories  of  good  Sir  John  seem,  no  doubt,  to 
the  reader  grotesque  and  absurd  enough.  But  they 
may  be  made  the  ground  of  two  remarks.  The  first  is, 
that  our  pictures  of  Eastern  races  in  the  books  of  the 
West  are  not  a whit  more  monstrous  than  the  pictures 
which  they  draw  of  ourselves.  Their  writers,  in  turn, 

1 The  Book  of  Sir  John  Maundeville,  chaps,  xiv.-xx. 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


35 


describe  nations  of  people  with  dogs’  beads,  of  cannibals, 
of  pigmies,  of  Amazons  among  whom  there  are  no  men, 
which  are  found  in  this  opposite  end  of  the  earth.  The 
popular  name  for  our  people  resorting  there  is  “devils;” 
and  they  suppose  we  are  possessed  of  a roving,  insatiable 
disposition,  are  naturally  fiendish  and  cruel,  and  wander 
off  to  the  Celestial  Empire  because  of  the  horrible  ster- 
ility and  nakedness  of  the  miserable  regions  to  which 
we  belong,  that  we  may  seek  there  supplies  of  food, 
raiment  and  medicine.  In  truth,  they  have  had  too 
much  reason  for  a poor  opinion  of  us.  But  surely  freer 
and  more  intimate  knowledge  of  us  will  disabuse  the 
Chinese  of  their  prejudices,  and  show  to  them  that  we 
possess  the  attributes  of  a common  humanity ; and  a 
similar  change  may  perhaps  be  hoped  for  in  our  ideas 
of  them. 

The  other  remark  is,  that#Sir  John’s  wonderful  stories, 
which  our  ancestors  believed  to  be  all  true,  are  but  the 
repetition  of  the  old  fables  which  we  get  from  the 
Homans  and  Greeks.  Pliny’s  Natural  History  is  full  of 
them.  They  came  to  those  countries  from  Oriental  lands. 
They  are  pure  heathenism.  They  are  the  end  of  the 
philosophy  of  man,  thousands  of  years  ago,  which  then, 
as  now,  invented  all  manner  of  “ imaginations  ” to  dis- 
honor God  and  his  revelations  of  man’s  nature  and  our 
duty  and  future  destiny.  The  false  reasoning  of  some 
of  the  self-confident  geologists  and  naturalists  of  our  day 
would  end  precisely  in  a belief  of  what  we  read  as  to  the 
various  races  of  mankind  in  the  ridiculous  fables  of 
Maundeville,  and  would  land  us,  a little  farther  on,  in 
the  degradation  of  God  from  his  rightful  throne,  in  the 
change  of  his  truth  into  a lie,  and  in  the  worship  and 


36 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


service  of  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator.  Such 
men  would  of  a truth  make  us  all  heathen  again. 

We  are  about  to  enter  upon  a survey  of  Chinese  his- 
tory. Let  us  assume  as  true  what  Paul  says,  that  God 
“ hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell 
on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the 
times  before  appointed  and  the  bounds  of  their  habita- 
tion.” Let  us  accept  this  divine  allotment  of  national 
localities,  and  of  their  historical  events,  as  having  refer- 
ence to  the  planting  of  the  light  of  revelation  at  a central 
point  in  Palestine.  “When  the  Most  High  divided  to 
the  nations  their  inheritance,”  said  he  who  has  told  us 
all  we  know  of  the  creation — “ when  he  separated  the 
sons  of  Adam,  he  set  the  bounds  of  the  people  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel.”  And  let 
us  not  treat  with  disrespect  the  evidences  of  progress  in 
civilization,  the  lessons  fron#the  lips  of  great  and  wise 
men,  the  inferences  from  events  that  have  decided  the 
condition  of  society,  or  the  field  for  the  study  of  human 
nature  in  all  its  strange  and  deep  workings,  only  because 
a certain  land  is  separated  from  ours  by  a tract  of  salt 
water,  or  because  climate,  diet  and  circumstances  have 
jmoduced  in  its  population  effects  in  complexion,  stature, 
speech  or  customs  which  are  no  more  strange  in  our 
eyes  than  our  own  appear  in  their  eyes. 

Which  of  the  families  that  sprang  from  the  solitary 
household  that  was  saved  in  the  ark  when  the  world  was 
drowned  for  its  corruption  first  threaded  its  way  along  the 
valleys  of  the  Jihon,  the  Yarkana  and  the  Hwang-ho 
into  the  territory  of  the  present  empire  of  China,  no 
inspired  chronicle  relates.  The  Creator  had  prepared  a 
national  highway  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fortieth 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


37 


degree  of  latitude,  along  which  some  would  naturally 
push  eastward.  The  dispersion  at  Babel  was  a new  act 
of  the  justice  of  heaven,  when  the  insane  builders  at- 
tempted to  renew  the  superstitions  for  which  their  fathers 
had  been  destroyed,  which  would  only  spend  its  force 
when  its  guilty  subjects  were  placed  far  apart.  And  in 
the  legends  of  the  Chinese  there  are  evidences  that  the 
settlement  of  the  country  must  have  been  made  within 
two  or  three  centuries,  at  longest,  after  the  deluge.  It 
does  not  seem  probable,  though  some  have  judged  so, 
that  Noah  himself  led  the  company  which  formed  the 
first  colony.  But  the  Chinese  possess  traditions  of  one 
who,  omitting  several  mythical  personages,  was  the  first 
of  whom  they  have  any  distinct  knowledge.  Their 
story  is,  that  he  came  from  Central  Asia  into  what  is 
now  the  province  of  Shen-si,  bordering  upon  the  desert 
on  the  north-west.  His  n»ne  was  Fuhi,  which  signifies 
an  oblation.  He  was  born  of  a virgin,  who  was  envel- 
oped by  a rainbow  upon  a mountain-top.  He  offered 
seven  clean  beasts  in  sacrifice.  It  has  been  remarked  that 
the  date  of  the  commencement  of  “the  reign  of  Fulii” 
corresponds  nearly,  according  to  the  common  chronology, 
in  which  we  follow  Archbishop  Usher,  with  that  of  the 
birth  of  Noah  ; while,  if  we  prefer  Dr.  Hale’s  system, 
it  corresponds  with  the  latter  half  century  of  the  life  of 
that  patriarch.  The  name  of  his  son  or  successor  was 
Sliin-nung,  or  Shin  the  husbandman,  which  may  pos- 
sibly point  to  Shem.  And  the  wonderfully  regular  and 
well-sustained  chronological  system  of  China,  which 
moves  in  cycles  of  sixty  years,  is  the  same  with  the 
ancient  Babylonish,  and  commences  in  the  reign  of 
Hwang-ti,  his  second  successor.  Take  all  these  facts  into 


38 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


view,  and  it  is  difficult  to  deny  the  conclusion  that, 
though  Noah  may  not  claim  to  have  founded  their  em- 
pire, yet  the  Chinese  possess  some  traditions  of  him  as 
the  great  second  father  of  mankind. 

The  several  generations  after  Noah,  according  to  the 
Chinese  histories,  were  directed  of  Heaven  to  the  dis- 
covery of  those  arts  which  are  most  necessary  to  man’s 
existence  and  comfort.  Shin-nung  is  worshiped  yet  as 
the  first  to  commence  agriculture. 

It  is  a point  of  great  interest  that  the  date  of  manu- 
facture of  the  thread  of  the  silkworm  for  the  first  time 
into  useful  garments  is  fixed  by  the  Chinese  in  the  reign 
of  Hwang-ti,  the  second  from  Fuhi.  His  queen,  Si-ling, 
is  named  as  the  foster-parent  of  it.  And  in  this  we 
have  the  clue,  most  probably,  to  the  source  of  the  name 
“ China,”  by  which  the  empire  is  now  almost  universally 
known.  Silk  appears  to  haue  been  the  most  character- 
istic article  of  manufacture  and  of  export  from  China  in 
all  subsequent  ages.  There  is  no  other  fabric  so  splen- 
did, none  so  durable,  and  the  source  of  the  fibre,  and 
the  first  processes  of  reeling  and  weaving  it,  were  suc- 
cessfully concealed  from  the  nations  of  the  West  until 
the  reign  of  the  Roman  emperor  Justinian,  in  the  sixth 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  eggs  of  the  silkworm 
were  brought  to  Constantinople,  say  the  Greek  his- 
torians of  that  period,  by  two  Nestorian  monks,  con- 
cealed within  a bamboo  staff. 

The  origin  of  the  name  China  has  been  discussed  with 
great  interest  by  scholars.  The  common  declaration 
that  it  was  taken  from  the  Tsin  dynasty,  which  became 
supreme  only  249  B.  C.,  though  ingeniously  proposed 
and  defended  by  some  intelligent  men,  cannot  bear  the 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


39 


test  of  criticism  enlightened  by  modern  acquaintance 
with  the  literature  of  the  East.  It  is  evident  that  the 
word  was  used  in  the  Sanskrit  and  other  Indian  lan- 
guages long  previous  to  the  Tsin  dynasty.  The  exact 
word  “ China”  is  found  in  the  Laws  of  Menu,  and  in 
ancient  Tamul  books.  It  is  found  in  the  Hebrew  of 
Isaiah,  four  centuries  before  the  reign  of  the  Tsin,  in  a 
prophecy  of  the  conversion  of  the  distant  East  to  Christ : 
“Behold,  these  shall  come  from  far  (the  south),  and  lo! 
these  from  the  north  and  from  the  west ; and  these  from 
the  land  of  Sinim.”1  This  remarkable  passage  the  best 
Hebrew  scholars  of  the  day  have  almost  unanimously 
settled  to  mean  “ the  Chinas,”  the  plural  form  of  the 
word  being  that  which  is  often  granted  to  notable  or 
extensive  countries. 

The  probability  is,  that  this  name,  of  which  the  na- 
tives know  nothing,  except  those  of  them  who  have  dis- 
covered our  use  of  it  by  intercourse  with  foreigners, 
originated  in  one  of  two  ways.  It  may  have  been  derived 
from  some  man,  perhaps  an  ancestor  or  chieftain,  as  were 
Borne,  Idumea,  Russia,  America.  The  name  of  Sliin- 
nung,  the  son  of  Fuhi,  by  whom  they  no  doubt  mean  the 
patriarch  Shem,  it  is  barely  possible,  may  be  the  source 
of  it.  Yet  the  opinions  of  scholars  lean  more  toward 
placing  the  Chinese  among  the  descendants  of  Ham,  one 
of  the  advocates  of  which  view  is  Sir  William  Jones,2  or 
among  those  of  Japhet.  The  Mohammedan  writers 
hand  us  down  an  old  legend  of  Persia  and  Arabia,  that 
Japhet  had  eleven  sons,  of  whom  Gin  or  Chin  was  the 
eldest ; that  as  such  his  father  sent  him  for  his  portion 
to  the  fertile  countries  of  the  far  East,  and  that  his  de- 

1 Works,  vol.  iii.,  p.  201. 


1 Isa.  xlix.  12. 


40 


TIIE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


scendants  early  became  distinguished  for  painting,  carv- 
ing and  the  cultivation  of  silk.1 

But  we  are  more  likely  to  solve  this  curious  question 
by  tracing  this  very  ancient  word  to  some  epithet  de- 
rived from  a characteristic  product  of  its  soil  or  .manu- 
facture, just  as  Britain  meant  the  “land  of  tin  Brazil, 
the  country  of  a certain  crimson  dye-wood ; and  Palmyra 
or  Tadmor,  the  land  of  the  palm  and  its  products.  The 
writer,  after  a thorough  investigation  of  the  subject 
during  more  than  twenty  years,  has  been  led  to  the  con- 
clusion, wdiich  he  has  seen  nowhere  else  mentioned,  that 
the  word  Sin  or  Tsin  was  probably  taken  from  a Chinese 
word  signifying  the  silkworm.  In  the  Shu-king,2  the 
most  ancient  historical  work  of  China  now  existing, 
compiled  by  Confucius  from  the  primeval  traditions  and 
■writings  remaining  in  his  time,  the  silkworm  is  desig- 
nated tsan.  The  emperor  Ta-yu,  who  began  to  reign 
B.  C.  2205,  is  said  to  have  selected  land  suitable  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  mulberry,  collected  silkworms  and. in- 
duced many  people  who  lived  among  the  mountains  to 
come  down  and  occupy  the  plains.  This  manufacture 
and  trade  in  silk  became  at  a very  early  period  the  most 
marked  characteristic  of  the  nation  upon  the  Yellow 
river.  The  Shu-king  describes  the  commerce  which 
sprang  up  wTith  their  neighbors  in  furs,  metals,  precious 
stones,  silk,  hemp,  cotton,  products  of  the  forests  and 
ivory.  The  word  Tsan  seems  to  have  been  the  source 
of  the  name  Tsin  or  Chin  or  Sin,  by  which  these  people 
were  distinguished  in  the  languages  of  most  of  the  na- 
tions of  Asia.  There  is  another  ancient  name  given  to 
them,  wdiich  we  find  in  the  Greek — the  “ Seres.”  It 

1 D’Hekbelot,  Bibliotheque  Orientale;  tom.  iii.  art.  “Sin.’’ 


1 Book  ii. 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


41 


occurs  once  in  the  New  Testament  in  the  adjective  form, 
serikos  (Rev.  xviii.  12),  which  no  doubt  has  given  to  us 
the  word  silk.  The  root,  it  has  been  supposed,  no  doubt 
correctly,  is  from  the  Chinese  sze,  which  means  the  silk 
fibre  or  thread.  This  was  in  that  luxurious  age  imported 
from  China  and  sold  at  its  weight  in  gold  to  the  wealthy 
Romans. 

While  the  first  Chinese  families  crossed  the  deserts  of 
the  North  and  slowly  moved  down  the  valleys  tributary 
to  the  Hwang-ho,  we  trace  a corresponding  eastward 
progress  of  another  people  as  early,  if  not  earlier,  to  the 
southward  of  them. 

It  is  a fact  upon  which  a clear  light  is  now  thrown  by 
the  investigations  of  the  languages,  history,  customs  and 
religious  ideas  of  many  tribes  of  the  more  remote  and 
more  mountainous  portions  of  Central,  Eastern  and 
Southern  Asia,  that  another  of  the  fragments  of  the 
explosion  at  Babel  was  cast  i*  a more  southerly  direc- 
tion, and  dissolved  upon  the  highlands  of  Northern 
India.  Some  of  the  ancient  legends  of  Persia  assert 
that  Tsin,  or  Gin,  was  not  the  eldest  son  of  Japhet,  but 
that  older  than  he  was  another,  named  Turk,  who  gave 
his  name  to  the  countless  and  wudely-dispersed  Turanian 
or  Turkish  tribes.  In  the  Sanskrit  of  India  also  is  found 
the  name  Turushka,  applied  to  the  same  race.  They  were 
followed  by  the  Aryans,  who  pushed  them  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  great  peninsulas,  to  the  large  islands  upon  the 
coast  of  Asia,  up  into  the  mountainous  tracts,  and  out  into 
the  deserts.  In  India  they  thus  became  the  progenitors  of 
the  hill-tribes  of  the  central  parts,  the  Coles,  the  Bliils, 
the  Waralis,  and  others  as  impoverished,  degraded  and 
distinct  from  the  more  powerful  races  that  have  rolled 


42 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


over  the  land  in  successive  waves.  They  are  the  Tamul 
people  of  the  South,  whose  language  is  largely  overlaid 
by  the  Sanskrit.  They  occupy  portions  of  the  island  of 
Ceylon,  under  the  name  of  the  Yaidas.  In  the  moun- 
tains of  Asam  they  are  the  Meris  and  Abors.  They  are 
the  Kambojans  and  Peguans,  or  Mons,  of  the  ultra- 
Ganges  peninsula.  They  give  to  the  Malays  the  charac- 
ter of  their  language.  They  form  the  great  tribes  of  the 
Kalmuks,  the  Mongols,  the  Ugrians  or  Uigurs,  the  Man- 
chus,  the  Si-fans  and  people  of  Tibet.  The  language  of 
the  Japanese  I have  found  to  be  one-half  so  like  to  the 
dialects  of  the  neighboring  coast  of  China  that  so  far  it 
might  well  be  considered  Chinese,  but  the  other  jiart 
carries  us  back  to  their  own  Turanian  source.  It  is 
polysyllabic,  and  is  written  with  an  alphabetic  charac- 
ter which  has  been  derived  from  some  of  their  Tartar 
cousins.  But  the  most  curious  part  of  the  history  of  this 
Turanian  family,  with  wl^ch  the  “ hill-tribes”  of  East- 
ern Asia  appear  to  be  connected,  is,  that  in  the  far  North- 
east it  has  begotten  the  Yakuts  and  other  savage  nations, 
some  members  of  which  are  found  in  Asia,  others  a thou- 
sand miles  distant,  on  the  Youcon  river,  which  rolls  its 
mighty  tide,  the  rival  of  the  Mackenzie,  across  thirty 
degrees  of  longitude,  and  falls  into  the  Sea  of  Ivamschatka, 
within  our  new  Territory  of  Alaska. 

The  Aryans,  who,  as  has  been  said,  pressed  forward 
the  Turanians,  and  occupied  the  best  lands  of  Southern 
Asia,  and  who  gave  us  the  inexhaustible  literature  of  the 
Sanskrit,  sent  members  of  their  race  into  the  West.  They 
are  the  Indo-European  family  to  which  we  belong.  The 
word  “ Ire-land”  probably  retains  the  ancient  name  as  to 
its  people.  And  there  is  seen  here  in  the  Indian  wars 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


43 


of  the  New  World,  after  a lapse  of  more  than  three 
thousand  years,  the  renewal  of  the  same  transactions 
which  occurred  in  Central  Asia — the  descendants  of  the 
more  civilized  Aryan  race  dispossessing  and  exterminat- 
ing those  of  the  earlier  and  barbarous  Turanian. 

The  hill-tribes  of  China  are  denominated  in  that  lan- 
guage the  Miau-tsz,  a name  taken  from  buds  in  spring, 
and  signifies  that  they  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  the 
central  and  western  provinces  in  which  they  are  found. 
They  are  noticed  in  the  most  ancient  records  of  Chinese 
history.  The  Shu-king  states  that  about  the  years  2286 
to  2258  B.C.  the  emperor  Shun  made  war  upon  three 
tribes  of  the  Miau-tsz,  who  dwelt  south  of  the  Yang-tsz- 
kiang  river,  and  drove  them  to  the  West.  In  the  reign 
of  Ta-yu,  which  dates  from  2204  B.C.,  the  war  was 
renewed,  and  continued  at  intervals  for  seventy  years. 

It  will  gratify  the  interest  in  this  people  to  further 
remark  that  these  “aborigines”  of  Central  China  yet 
occupy  its  mountain  districts.  They  are  divided  into 
small  tribes,  which  are,  many  of  them,  so  entrenched  in 
inaccessible  and  wild  mountains  as  to  be  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  Chinese  government.  They  generally 
choose  their  own  chiefs,  and  are  allowed  to  manage  most 
of  their  local  affairs.  They  follow  in  some  regions 
agricultural  pursuits,  but  in  others  abandon  themselves 
to  hunting  and  fishing.  It  is  remarkable  that  some  of 
them  are  called  the  Blacksnakes,  the  Crows,  the  Black- 
feet,  and  other  names  which  remind  us  of  our  Indians, 
and  that  the  men  often  ornament  themselves,  like  them, 
with  a plume  in  the  hair.  The  women  cultivate  and 
spin  silk,  dress  neatly  in  short  gowns,  tying  their  wide 
pantaloons,  like  the  Persians,  about  the  ankles,  and  are 


44 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


fond  of  silver  and  copper  trinkets.  Their  houses  are 
partially  excavated  in  the  mountain  sides,  or  in  the 
forests  are  framed  of  bamboo  among  the  branches  of 
spreading  trees.  Their  language  is  said  by  the  Chinese 
to  be  •wholly*  different  from  their  own.  A few  of  them 
have  visited  Canton  and  other  ports  open  to  foreigners, 
but  I am  not  aware  of  any  successful  attempt  to  obtain 
a vocabulary  of  it.  Many  of  them  read  and  talk  the 
Chinese  language.  They  have  not  yielded  to  the  Buddh- 
ist proselytes  who  have  swept  the  Chinese  into  that 
superstition.  Their  religion  is  simple.  They  believe 
in  lucky  and  unlucky  times,  celebrate  the  New  Year 
and  other  festivals,  and  live  in  great  terror  of  evil 
spirits.  They  sacrifice  the  dog  and  other  animals.  The 
worship  which  has  the  strongest  hold  upon  them  is  that 
of  the  spirits  of  their  deceased  kindred.  They  suppose 
these  remain  with  the  corporeal  parts.  They  therefore 
sometimes  do  not  bury  the  body  for  twenty  years,  and 
then  carry  a number  of  the  corpses  together  out  to  the 
place  of  interment  with  great  parade.  A man  revenges 
himself  upon  an  enemy  by  tearing  up  or  destroying  the 
tombs  of  his  kindred,  or  secures  payment  from  a debtor 
by  stealing  their  bones  and  keeping  them.  They  seek 
to  obtain  the  relief  of  one  who  is  sick  by  sacrifices  before 
the  remains  of  an  ancestor,  and  perhaps  by  cleansing 
and  washing  the  bones.  This  notice  of  them  will  sug- 
gest many  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Indian  tribes  of 
our  own  continent,  whose  condition  in  history  seems  so 
strangely  parallel  and  interlinked  with  theirs.1 

1 It  should  be  remarked  here  that  the  Indians  of  the  New  World  have  sprung 
from  several  sources.  In  the  East  there  were,  beyond  reasonable  doubt,  some 
who,  from  the  tenth  century  and  later,  were  descended  from  6mall  colonies  of 
Northmen,  who  coasted  the  irregular  shore  of  the  Atlantic  from  the  frozen 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


45 


Of  the  Mongols,  who  conquered  China  under  Kublai 
Khan  in  the  thirteenth  century  and  reigned  over  it 
ninety  years,  of  the  Manchus,  who  for  more  than  two 
centuries  have  been  its  rulers,  and  of  the  Jews  who  have 
been  found  upon  the  Hwang-ho  river,  mention  will  be 
made  in  future  chapters  of  this  volume.  From  what 
has  been  said  of  the  two  primeval  races  in  China,  and 
the  intimation  of  the  presence  of  others,  the  inference 
is  easily  drawn  that  the  population  of  the  present  em- 
pire of  China  is  far  from  being  the  dull,  uniform,  stag- 
nant mass  which  some  inconsiderate  or  uninformed 
writers  represent.  The  truth  is,  that  while  there  is  a 
dominant  style  of  civilization,  of  religious  sentiment 
and  of  national  character,  yet  the  people  of  the  north, 
of  the  west,  of  the  central  provinces,  and  of  the  south- 
ern sea-coast  differ  very  much  in  stature,  in  customs,  in 
energy ; their  spoken  languages  are  as  unlike  as  the 
German  to  the  English,  and  their  leading  employments 
are  very  dissimilar.  This  variety  amidst  general  unity 
will  prove  favorable  to  future  improvement  and  to  the 
development  of  the  vast  national  resources,  through  the 
infusion  of  Western  ideas,  inventions  and  merchandise. 

An  account  of  the  races  which  inhabit  the  empire  of 
China  may  be  suitably  followed  by  a statement  of  the 

regions  whence  they  ventured  forth  in  their  compact  ships.  This  has  been  shown 
by  the  investigations  of  the  Royal  Antiquarian  Society  of  Copenhagen.  ( Memoirea 
de  la  Societe  Royale  des  Antiquaires  du  Nord  ; section  Asiatique,  1840-3.)  From  the 
North-west  there  descended,  probably  from  a period  many  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  the  Turanian  tribes,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  who  crossed  at  Behr- 
ing’s Straits,  and  formed  the  bulk  of  those  which  dispersed  themselves  in  time 
over  North  and  South  America.  And  another  distinct  element  is  to  be  recognized 
in  the  cultivated  Toltecs,  Otomis  and  Aztecs  of  Mexico,  who  were  certainly  Buddh- 
ists, and  came,  at  least  in  part,  from  Chinese  and  Japanese  stock.  On  this  sub- 
ject some  interesting  light  will  be  thrown  in  a future  chapter. 


46 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


probable  number  of  tbe  present  entire  population.  The 
Marquis  de  Moges  states,  in  his  narrative  of  the  French 
embassy  to  China  in  1857-8,  that  a late  census  makes 
it  to  be  415,000,000.  The  fact  of  such  a census  having 
been  taken  is  doubtful.  About  300,000,000  is  a safe 
estimate  of  the  population  of  the  empire  proper. 

The  mind  staggers  beneath  the  conception  of  so  vast 
a mass  of  human  beings  being  collected  under  one  gov- 
ernment, speaking  one  kindred  family  of  languages, 
writing  identically  the  same  character,  and  entertaining 
so  largely  the  same  general  social  and  religious  ideas. 
Can  this  estimate  of  their  number,  it  is  asked,  be  cor- 
rect? It  is  the  opinion  of  those  best  acquainted  with 
the  empire,  who  have  most  extensively  visited  its  acces- 
sible portions,  and  who  have  examined  the  statistics  ob- 
tained from  its  own  officers,  that  it  is  not  too  great. 

In  a work  of  M.  de  Guignes,  published  in  1808, 2 he 


This  population  is  distributed  as  follows : 


Northern  Provinces. 

1.  Chihli  (Petscheli,  Pes- 


cheli,) 36,879,838 

2.  Shantung 29,529,877 

3.  Shansi 17,056,925 

4.  Honan 29,069,771 

112,536,411 

Eastern  Provinces. 

5.  Kiangsu 39,646,924 

6.  Nganhwui 36,596,988 

7.  Kiangsi 26,513,889 

8.  Chikiang 30,437,974 

9.  Fukien  (Fokien) 25,799,556 

158,995,331 

Central  Provinces. 

10.  Hupeh - 28,584,564 

11.  Hunan 20,048,969 

48,633,533 


2 Voyages  it  Peking,  Manille  et  V lie 


Southern  Provinces. 

12.  Kwangtung  (Canton).  21,152,603 

13.  Kwangsi 8,121,327 

14.  Yunnan 5,823,670 

15.  Kweichau 5,679,128 

40,776,728 

Western  Provinces. 

16.  Shensi 10,309,769 

17.  Kansuh 19,512,716 

18.  Szchuen 22,256,964 

51,079,440 

413,021,452 

To  which  is  added  the 
number  of  the  Chinese  in 
Shing-king,  a new  prov- 
ince created  in  Manchu- 
ria  - 1,665,542 

Total 414,686,994 

le  France,  etc.,  tom.  iii.,  pp.  55-80. 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


47 


compiles  in  a table  tbe  information  collected  from  Amiot 
and  other  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  as  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  empire  between  the  years  1736  and  1761. 
He  shows  that  in  the  former  year  it  was  125,046,24 5; 
in  the  latter,  about  205,293,053.  He  explains  from  his 
own  observations  how  this  was  within  the  truth.  Hr.  S. 
W.  Williams,  the  most  thorough  and  reliable  Chinese 
scholar  living,  in  his  “ Middle  Kingdom” 1 presents  the 
whole  subject  in  a clear  and  satisfactory  light,  aiming  to 
show  that  the  census  taken  by  the  emperor  Kia-king  in 
1812,  which  made  the  sum  to  be  362,447,183,  was  prob- 
ably nearly  correct.2 

If  these  enumerations  be  not  far  wrong,  the  increase 
in  the  first  twenty-five  years  was  three  and  one-fifth 
millions  a year ; for  the  seventy-six  years  previous  to 
1812,  three  and  one-eighth  millions  a year.  This  cer- 
tainly does  not  seem  extravagant,  and  amounts  to  but 
two  and  a half  per  cent,  yearly.  From  1812  to  1858  the 
wars  and  emigration  probably  prevented  any  increase. 
The  number  since  then  has  diminished ; for  in  that 
time  the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  wars  in  the  west  and  with 
foreigners,  and  consequent  famines  and  diseases,  have 
swept  off  many  millions  of  people. 

The  general  opinion  of  the  foreign  missionaries,  mer- 

1 Vol.  i.  pp.  206-234. 

2 This  census  is  contained  in  the  last  collection  of  statutes  put  forth  by  the 
emperor.  J.  R.  Morrison  (son  of  the  missionary)  says : “ It  will  probably  serve  to 
set  at  rest  the  numerous  speculations  concerning  the  real  amount  of  population. 
We  know,  from  several  authorities,  that  in  China  the  people  are  in  the  habit  of 
diminishing,  rather  than  increasing,  their  numbers  in  their  reports  to  govern- 
ment. And  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  in  a work  published  by  the  gov- 
ernment, not  for  the  information  of  curious  inquirers,  but  for  the  use  of  its  own 
officers,  the  numbers  so  reported  by  the  people  should  be  more  than  doubled,  as 
the  statements  of  some  European  speculators  would  require  us  to  believe  ” 


48 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


chants  and  official  persons  who  have  visited  extensively 
the  provinces  fronting  upon  the  eastern  and  southern 
seas,  and  lying  along  the  great  rivers,  is,  that  the  popu- 
lation is  as  great  within  them  as  the  statements  of  the 
estimates  require  The  multitude  of  cities  and  towns, 
the  swarming  throngs  of  people  in  the  streets  of  the 
cities,  the  narrowness  of  the  streets,  the  small  number 
of  animals  used  for  beasts  of  burden  and  the  perform- 
ance of  their  tasks  by  men,  the  garden-like  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  the  hills  with  their  irrigated  terraces,  the 
countless  boats  and  vessels  of  all  sizes  and  kinds  on  the 
rivers,  lakes  and  seas,  the  streets  of  them  anchored  in 
rows  for  tenements,  the  variety  of  employments  and  the 
diligence  of  the  people  in  them,  even  the  women  laboring 
at  the  oar  upon  the  water — indeed,  whatever  could  be 
supposed  to  characterize  a most  crowded  country — press 
upon  one  the  conviction  that  China  is  thus  populous. 

Of  the  number  of  the  tribes  occupying  the  vast 
colonial  and  tributary  regions  of  Manchuria,  Mongolia, 
Kokonor,  Ili  and  Tibet,  it  is  almost  in  vain  to  attempt 
an  estimate.  Portions  of  them  are  occupied  by  settled 
communities ; still  larger  parts  by  nomadic  and  pred- 
atory tribes,  and  great  deserts  on  the  west  and  barren 
plains  on  the  north  are  silent  and  untenanted.  Gutzlaff, 
half  a generation  ago,  estimated  these  entire  regions  to 
contain  thirty-three  millions  of  human  beings.  But  this 
is  probably  too  large  a number. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  the  empire  of  China 
contains,  within  its  immense  area,  which  equals  the  one- 
tenth  of  the  dry  land  of  the  globe,  one-fourth  of  the  race 
of  man.  The  practical  bearings  of  this  question  of 
population  are  of  an  importance  which  cannot  now  be 


THE  CHINESE  PEOPLE. 


49 


appreciated.  Commerce  witli  such  a centre  of  civilized 
and  inexhaustible  productions  of  the  field,  the  garden, 
the  forest,  the  loom  and  the  mine,  enriches  the  nations 
engaged  in  it.  These  muscular  and  patient  millions 
have  been  schooled  by  Providence  to  supply  the  rest 
of  the  world  with  the  labor  which  is  to  make  its  wilder- 
nesses blossom  as  the  rose.  There  Christendom  sees 
spread  before  it  its  grandest  and  most  inviting  field  of 
religious  enterprise. 


CHAPTER  III. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS. 

WHEN  we  turn  to  consider  the  physical  character- 
’ ' istics  of  China,  the  first  impression  made  upon  an 
American — one  which  has  been  remarked  upon  by 
several  of  our  writers — is  its  general  resemblance  to  his 
own  country.  This  may  be  traced  in  more  particulars 
than  I have  yet  seen  mentioned. 

China  is  the  great  empire  of  Asia,  as  the  United 
States  is,  in  a freer  sense,  that  of  America.  It  fronts 
eastward  and  southward  upon  the  Pacific,  as  the 
United  States  do  upon  the  Atlantic  ocean.  Upon  the 
coast  of  each  a great  gulf  stream,  rising  in  the  tropics, 
sweeps  northward  and  eastward,  making  its  vicinity 
stormy,  and  attracting  to  its  tepid  waters  multitudes  of 
fish.  The  terrific  cyclones  or  hurricanes  rising  in  the 
south  move  regularly  in  the  same  directions  along  each 
continent  and  expire  in  the  ocean.  Though  the  United 
States  lie  somewhat  more  to  the  north,  the  lines  of 
mean  annual  heat  and  of  the  limit  of  the  fall  of  snow 
at  the  level  of  the  sea  maintain  a general  correspond- 
ence. The  extreme  difference  between  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  coldest  month  of  the  year  and  that  of 
the  warmest  (55°  to  95°),  which  marks  the  New  Eng- 
land, is  also  felt  on  the  northern  Chinese  coast.  For- 

50 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  51 

mosa  is  the  Florida  of  China.  The  Philippine  Islands 
are  its  West  Indies.  Two  great  mountain  chains  bind 
its  extremes  into  one  grand  domain,  though  we  observe 
that  the  all-wise  ends  of  the  Supreme  Governor  planned 
their  courses  in  the  Old  World,  according  to  the  wants 
of  the  human  tenants,  from  the  west  to  the  east,  but 
in  the  New  World  from  the  north  to  the  south.  The 
immense  river  system  of  the  Mississippi  finds  its  parallel 
in  that  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang — two  which  are  only  ex- 
ceeded by  the  Amazon  and  La  Plata  in  the  quantity 
of  water  which  they  discharge  into  the  sea.  The  geo- 
graphical purposes  of  the  great  fresh-water  lakes  of  the 
New  World  are  largely  provided  for  in  the  Hwang-lio 
and  Amoor  rivers.  The  United  States  and  China  have 
each  their  great  deposits  of  precious  metals  in  the  west 
and  north-west.  Each  have  their  wheat  and  apples  in 
the  north,  their  rice  and  oranges  in  the  south,  though 
rice  is  more  of  a national  diet  with  the  latter.  In  each, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  north  are  more  muscular  and  more 
fair.  The  wild  western  territories  of  each  are  kept  in  con- 
tinual agitation  by  barbarous  tribes,  whose  glory  is  their 
herds  of  horses,  their  skill  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the 
spear,  and,  we  might  perhaps  add,  in  taking  the  scalps 
of  their  enemies,  for  this  was  also  an  ancient  Scythian 
or  Tartar  luxury.  It  would  be  easy  to  draw  the  analo- 
gies between  the  mental  character  and  the  institutions  of 
the  people  of  China  and  those  of  the  United  States,  but 
that  subject  it  is  better  to  reserve  for  another  place. 

With  this  comparison,  which  will  convey  a clearer 
idea  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  China,  I proceed 
to  supply,  largely  from  the  excellent.  English  compila- 
tion mentioned  in  the  Preface,  some  further  particulars. 


52 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


With  its  dependencies  and  tributary  states  the  Chinese 
Empire  extends  from  the  Sea  of  Japan  to  the  head 
waters  of  the  Indus  among  the  Himmaleh  mountains  in 
the  west — a space  of  seventy-one  degrees  of  longitude, 
equal,  in  a straight  line,  to  three  thousand  statute  miles. 
From  north  to  south  it  stretches  from  the  Ural  moun- 
tains, in  north  latitude  50°,  to  the  southern  border, 
about  latitude  21°,  being  twenty-nine  degrees,  or  nearly 
two  thousand  three  hundred  miles.  Of  this  immense 
area,  China  Proper  measures  about  twelve  hundred 
statute  miles  in  length,  and  not  much  less  in  average 
breadth.  The  empire  proper,  which  the  people  usually 
designate  the  Eighteen  Provinces,  contains  nearly  one 
million  three  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  The  ter- 
ritorial possessions  contain  about  three  million  seven 
hundred  thousand  additional.  Their  populations  pro- 
fess dependence  on  the  Celestial  Empire,  or  have  the 
laws  and  manners,  and  speak  or  read  the  language,  of 
the  Chinese,  with  whom,  in  fact,  they  are  almost 
identified. 

The  climate  of  China  presents  every  variety  of  tem- 
perature, from  the  snows  and  chilling  blasts  of  Siberia 
to  the  scorching  heat  of  the  torrid  zone  on  its  southern 
borders.  That  of  the  north-western  provinces  is  made 
distressingly  hot  and  dry  when  the  wind  during  the 
summer  months  blows  from  the  great  deserts  of  the 
interior.  Even  in  Canton,  where  the  tropical  heat  of 
the  season  is  tempered  by  the  friendly  south-west  mon- 
soon, which  blows  almost  steadily  day  and  night,  a change 
of  the  wind  for  two  or  three  days,  bringing  these  oven- 
like blasts,  is  almost  intolerable.  It  is  amusing  to  witness 
in  that  latitude  the  eagerness  of  the  people  when  once 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  53 

in  many  years  a slight  snow  falls  in  the  winter,  to  gather 
it  into  bottles,  in  which  they  suppose  its  precious  virtues 
will  be  preserved  after  it  melts,  and  be  an  efficacious 
remedy  for  fevers.  “ No  country,”  says  truly  a recent 
writer,1  “ presents  greater  diversities  in  its  physical 
geography,  productions  and  natural  history,  whether  we 
regard  its  verdant  and  cultivated  plains  or  its  sterile  and 
solitary  deserts,  its  mountains  and  its  valleys,  its  gigantic 
rivers,  its  cities  teeming  with  intelligent  and  civilized 
inhabitants,  or  its  mountain  fastnesses  and  its  forests,  the 
abodes  of  wild  beasts  or  marauding  banditti.” 

In  its  general  aspect  China  presents  a series  of  river 
basins,  or  broad  valleys  of  rivers,  and  of  low  lands  along 
the  sea-coast,  divided  by  ranges  of  hills,  which  rise  in 
many  places  to  a very  considerable  elevation.  Yun-nan, 
the  south-western  province,  is  exceedingly  mountainous. 
The  chief  range  sends  out  two  branches  eastward,  one  of 
which  separates  the  valley  of  the  Si-kiang  river  from  the 
coasts  of  the  Gulf  of  Tung-king ; the  other  separates  it 
from  the  valley  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  river  and  its  afflu- 
ents, whose  basins  are  themselves  divided  by  ranges 
which  diverge  from  each  other  and  from  the  coasts  of 
the  Ea!fet  sea.  The  valley  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  is  sepa- 
rated from  that  of  the  Hwang-ho  by  a stretch  of 
high  land,  which  trends  eastward  from  the  Pih-ling 
mountains  on  the  borders  of  Tartary,  but  which,  termi- 
nating before  it  reaches  the  coast,  leaves  a broad  alluvial 
plain  between  the  mouths  of  these  two  great  rivers.  The 
remaining  portion  of  the  country  lying  between  the 
Hwang-ho  and  Gulf  of  Pe-che-lee  consists  of  the  basin 

1 The  Rev.  W.  Ellis,  Introduction  to  Gutzlaff’s  Journal  of  Three  Voyages 
along  the  Coast  of  China. 


54 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  the  Pei-lio  and  the  Yu-lio,  having  the  hills  of  Shan- 
tung province  on  the  south,  and  a cross  range  on  the 
west,  and  communicating  with  the  basin  of  the  Hwang-ho 
by  an  opening  at  the  angle  formed  by  the  two  ranges. 
The  appearance  of  even  that  portion  of  the  country 
which  has  been  traversed  during  the  last  century  by 
Europeans  and  Americans  is  exceedingly  diversified. 
Between  Canton  and  Peking,  a distance  of  twelve  hun- 
dred miles,  travelers  have  observed  nearly  every  variety 
of  surface,  but  each  variety  very  remarkably  disposed  in 
large,  broad  masses.  At  first  they  have  passed  over  a 
great,  continuous  plain ; then  for  days  over  precipitous 
mountains,  naked  and  unvaried,  and  for  the  remainder 
of  their  journey  through  lakes,  swamps  and  morasses,  or 
across  -extended  sandy  plains.  There  is  a constant  suc- 
cession of  large  villages,  towns  and  cities,  with  consid- 
erable navigable  rivers,  communicating  with  each  other 
by  means  of  artificial  canals.  Both  canals  and  rivers 
are  crowded  with  boats  and  barges.  Hedge-rows  and 
trees  are  scarce.  Generally  the  surface  of  the  country 
rises  in  terraces  from  the  sea.  As  yet,  its  geology  is 
very  imperfectly  known.  China,  however,  has  been  well 
mapped.  “ The  scientific  skill  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
accomplished  a survey  of  the  whole  on  trigonometrical 
principles,  so  admirably  correct  as  to  admit  of  little 
improvement;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  British 
possessions  in  India,  there  is  no  part  of  Asia  so  well  laid 
down  as  China.”1 

Since  the  time  of  the  Jesuits’  survey,  however,  an 
alteration  has  taken  place  in  the  divisions  of  the  country ; 

1 Sir  John  Francis  Davis,  The  Chinese;  A General  Description  of  China  and 
its  Inhabitants. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  55 

the  provinces,  which  then  consisted  of  fifteen  in  all,  were 
increased,  by  the  sub-division  of  three  of  the  largest,  to 
eighteen ; and  another  has  been  added  of  late  years, 
carved  out  of  the  hereditary  possessions  of  the  reigning 
dynasty  in  Manchuria.  The  name  Shih-pih  Sang,  or 
the  Eighteen  Provinces,  is  the  popular  name  of  the 
empire. 

The  two  principal  rivers  of  China  occupy  a very  high 
rank.  The  Yang-tsz-kiang  and  the  great  Hwang-ho, 
or  Yellow  river,  surpass  all  the  rivers  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  are  second  only  to  the  Amazon  and  the  Mis- 
sissipi  in  America.  The  Yang-tsz-kiang,  or  the  “Son 
of  the  Ocean/’  rises  in  Kokonor,  not  far  from  the  sources 
of  the  Yellow  river.  Making  a circuitous  course,  and 
receiving  the  tribute  of  innumerable  streams  and  the 
superfluous  waters  of  two  immense  lakes  (the  Tung- 
ting-hu  and  the  Po-yang-hu),  it  flows  with  a strong 
current  past  Nanking  into  the  ocean,  which  it  reaches 
under  the  thirty-second  parallel  of  latitude. 

The  Yellow  river  also  rises  in  the  country  of  Koko- 
nor ; but  while  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  turns  to  the  south, 
the  Yellow  river  strikes  off  abruptly  to  the  north,  passes 
across  the  Great  Wall,  making  an  elbow  around  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Ortous,  then  strikes  back  and  again  crosses 
the  Great  Wall,  whence  it  flows  due  south  and  forms 
the  boundary  of  Shan-si  and  Shen-si,  from  which  boun- 
dary it  turns  sharply  to  the  east,  and,  until  recently, 
reached  the  ocean  in  latitude  34°.  The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  A. 
P.  Martin,  an  American  missionary,  who  has  been 
appointed  a professor  in  the  University  at  Peking,  reports 
that  it  has  of  late  cut  a new  channel  for  itself,  probably 
during  some  great  inundation ; starting  north-east  below 


56 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  city  of  Kai-fung,  it  has  pushed  its  way  to  the  Gulf  of 
Pe-che-lee,  at  a point  four  degrees  farther  north.  The 
stream  of  the  Yellow  river  is  so  excessively  rapid  as  to 
he  hardly  navigable  throughout  the  greater  part  of  its 
course.  It  carries  along  with  it  a prodigious  quantity 
of  yellow  mud  in  a state  of  solution,  and  its  frequent 
floods  occasion  great  damage  to  the  country,  and  expense 
to  the  government  in  maintaining  artificial  embank- 
ments. But  its  waters  fill  numerous  canals,  which  are 
furnished  with  locks,  and  carry  fertility  to  many  dis- 
tricts which  would  otherwise  be  dry  and  sterile.  As  for 
the  internal  commerce  of  the  empire,  the  Chinese  are 
rendered  almost  entirely  independent  of  the  rivers  and 
of  coast  navigation  by  their  Imperial  Canal,  which,  in 
jDoint  of  extent  and  magnitude  of  undertaking,  is,  like 
the  Great  Wall,  unrivaled  by  any  other  work  of  the 
kind  in  the  known  world. 

The  flat,  sandy  and  unproductive  province  in  which 
Peking  is  situated  offers,  according  to  universal  report, 
little  that  is  worthy  of  notice.  The  vast  plateau,  or  ele- 
vated plain,  which  surrounds  that  capital,  is  entirely  de- 
void of  trees,  but  wood  is  procured  from  the  nearest  hills 
and  mountains  of  Tartary.  The  provinces  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  are  described  as  the  richest  prov- 
inces in  all  China.  They  are  famous  for  their  silks  and 
japanned  goods,  made  principally  at  Su-chau,  a very  an- 
cient city.  Nanking,  the  capital  of  Kiang-su,  and  at  one 
time  of  the  whole  empire,  measures  seventeen  miles  in 
circumference;  but  only  a corner  of  this  vast  area  is  now 
occupied  by  the  habitations  of  men,  the  city  having  suf- 
fered greatly  in  the  wars  with  the  Tartars,  and  from  its 
occujmtion  by  the  Tai-ping  rebels,  who  slaughtered  a vast 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  57 

multitude,  and  also  in  consequence  of  tlie  removal  of  the 
court  and  capital  to  Peking.  In  the  district  of  Hwui- 
cliau-fu,  the  most  southern  part  of  the  province,  is  grown 
the  best  green  tea ; the  soil  in  which  the  tea-plants  are 
reared  is  a decomposition  of  granite,  abounding  in  fel- 
spar, as  is  proved  by  the  soil  being  extensively  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  fine  porcelain.  Thus,  as  Davis  ob- 
serves, the  same  soil  produces  the  tea  and  the  cups  from 
wThich  it  is  drank. 

The  adjoining  province  of  Kiang-si  is  described  as 
being,  in  natural  scenery  and  climate,  the  most  delight- 
ful part  of  the  empire.  Here  the  Po-yang  lake,  in  size 
approaching  the  character  of  an  inland  sea,  spreads  its 
broad  waters,  and  exhibits  on  its  west  side  a long  frame- 
work of  strikingly  beautiful  mountain  scenery. 

The  maritime  province  of  Chi-kiang  competes  with  the 
great  provinces  north  and  west  of  it  in  the  production  of 
silk  and  the  extent  of  its  plantations  of  young  mulberry- 
trees,  which  are  constantly  lopped  and  renewed  as  the 
most  certain  way  of  improving  the  silk  spun  by  the 
worms  which  feed  on  the  leaves.  The  younger  the  tree, 
the  more  tender  the  leaves;  and  the  more  tender  the 
leaves,  the  finer  the  silk.  It  is  by  want  of  attention  to 
this  rule  that  silk,  in  several  parts  of  the  continent  of 
Europe  and  in  various  Asiatic  countries,  has  deteriorated 
in  quality.  The  principal  city  of  this  province  is  the 
celebrated  Hang-chau,  close  to  the  famous  lake  Si-hu. 
This  beautiful  lake  is  about  six  miles  in  circumference  ; 
its  water  is  quite  limpid  and  almost  overspread  with  the 
beautiful  water-lily.  It  figures  continually  in  Chinese 
tales,  poems,  apothegms,  similes  and  songs,  and  is  held 
as  a place  sacred  to  pleasure  and  enjoyment.  Its  exten- 


58 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


sive  sheet  of  water  is  described  as  being  covered  with 
barges,  which  are  splendidly  fitted  up,  and  appear  to  be 
the  perpetual  abodes  of  gayety  and  dissipation.  The 
province  of  Fukien,  which  is  contiguous  to  Chi-kiang, 
and  like  it  maritime,  is  very  far  from  being  so  fertile. 
But  the  inhabitants  are  the  best  sailors  and  the  boldest 
and  most  adventurous  part  of  the  Chinese  population ; 
they  chiefly  supply  the  emperor’s  war-junks  with  sailors 
and  commanders ; they  build  an  immense  number  of  the 
trading-junks  that  are  found  in  the  seas  of  China  and 
Malacca;  and  they  furnish  the  greater  part  of  the  Chinese 
emigrants  to  the  Indian  archipelago  and  the  neighboring 
countries,  and  of  the  coolies  who  have  gone  to  the  West 
Indies  and  South  America  in  Spanish  vessels.  Other 
coolies  have  been  taken  from  Canton  province,  sailing 
from  Macao.  Fukien,  moreover,  is  the  great  country 
of  the  black  teas ; and  our  word  Bohea  is  merely  a cor- 
ruption of  Bu-i,  the  name  which  the  natives  give  to  the 
hills  on  which  these  black  teas  are  principally  grown. 
The  name  tea  was  first  derived  from  the  people  of  this 
province.  In  the  dialect  of  Canton,  whence  it  was  ex- 
ported afterward  by  the  East  India  Company,  and  in 
those  of  the  court  and  of  most  Of  the  provinces  with 
which  we  are  acquainted,  it  is  called  Cha. 

Yun-nan,  the  most  western  province  of  China  Proper, 
borders  on  the  Burmese  territory,  and  extends  nearly  to 
Amarapura,  the  old  capital  of  that  kingdom.  It  is  ex- 
tremely mountainous,  and  abounds  in  metals  and  other 
valuable  minerals,  among  which  is  good  coal.  The  cop- 
per is  said  to  be  very  fine,  and  nearly  equal  in  quality  to 
the  copper  worked  in  the  islands  of  Japan.  Gold  is 
found  in  the  sands  of  the  rivers,  and  the  Yang-tsz-kiang, 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  59 

in  this  part  of  its  course,  is  called  the  “golden-sanded 
river.”  Toward  the  north-west  of  this  province,  and  the 
borders  of  the  Tibet  country,  is  found  the  yak,  or  cow 
of  Tibet,  the  tail  of  which  is  famous  on  account  of  the 
people  of  the  province  using  the  hairs  of  it  in  various 
manufactures,  particularly  carpets.  Though  presenting 
a more  alpine  character  than  any  other  part  of  China 
Proper,  Yun-nan  yet  contains  some  extensive,  broad  and 
finely-watered  plains. 

The  extensive  province  on  the  north-east  of  Yun-nan 
is  traversed  by  very  lofty  mountains,  called  the  “ Moun- 
tains of  Snow.”  These  peaks,  which  are  probably  from 
ten  to  twelve  thousand  feet  high,  look  over  the  mysteri- 
ous, closed  country  of  the  Delai  Lama.  The  province  of 
Shen-si,  which  also  borders  on  Tibet,  is  said  to  abound 
in  mineral  wealth — in  mines  which  have  been  neither 
worked  nor  visited  by  any  people  of  the  West  for  very 
many  ages.  Both  this  country  and  the  adjoining  prov- 
ince of  Shan-si,  toward  Peking,  abound  in  craters  and 
other  symptoms  of  extensive  and  tremendous  volcanic 
action.  Sulphur,  tufa,  salt-water  lakes,  hot  wells,  springs 
with  jets  of  inflammable  gas,  pools  of  'petroleum  (which 
the  Chinese  burn  in  lamps) , are  found  all  through  these 
regions. 

The  provinces  of  the  interior  and  West  do  not  seem  to 
require  special  description  in  this  volume.  The  general 
character  of  their  productions  resembles  that  of  those  in 
corresponding  latitudes  upon  the  coast,  except  that  upon 
the  western  confines  of  the  empire  the  land  becomes 
more  mountainous,  forests  are  more  numerous,  the  popu- 
lation becomes  more  sparse,  and  wild  tribes  are  found 
occupying  the  more  rugged  and  inaccessible  regions. 


60 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


In  those  of  the  south-west,  contiguous  to  Canton  prov- 
ince, the  cassia,  a species  of  laurus,  is  found,  whose  ten- 
der bark,  carefully  separated  from  the  smaller  branches, 
supplies  that  spice  which  is  an  inferior  kind  of  cinna- 
mon. In  the  same  regions  the  camphor  tree  flourishes. 
The  gum  is  obtained  by  macerating  the  leaves  and  wood 
in  water,  from  which  it  is  evaporated  over  a slow  fire. 
The  larger  wood  is  made  into  a great  variety  of  articles 
of  furniture  and  use.  Few  foreigners  visit  China  with- 
out securing  at  least  a bureau  or  a chest  made  of  it,  for 
the  sake  of  its  bright  yellow  color,  and  because  the  odor 
which  long  remains  in  the  wood  is  a preservative  of  its 
contents  from  insects. 

The  province  best  known  in  past  ages  to  the  people 
of  the  West  is  Canton.  It  is  the  most  southern  in  its  sit- 
uation. It  is  well  watered,  and  all  parts  of  it  are  reached 
by  the  Pearl  river  and  its  spreading  branches  and  other 
streams.  Its  extent  is  about  eighty  thousand  square 
miles,  or  nearly  that  of  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia  together.  Its  irregular  and  bold  shores  afford 
numerous  harbors  and  are  often  the  haunts  of  pirates. 
The  northern  and  western  parts  are  mountainous.  The 
city  of  Canton  has  been  the  great  outlet  of  the  com- 
merce with  Europe  for  many  centuries.  The  Arabian 
fleets  from  the  Ped  sea  and  the  Persian  gulf  traded 
there,  and  probably  the  Romans  before  them.  Its  im- 
portance has  diminished  since  the  opening  of  the  north- 
ern sea-ports  and  the  new  channels  of  trade  created  by 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  Pacific  States  of  this  continent. 
The  climate  of  the  coast  is  tropical,  and  tropical  fruits 
and  other  products  abound  there.  Of  this  province  and 
its  people  we  shall  have  much  to  say  hereafter,  since 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  61 

nearly  the  entire  body  of  immigrants  to  California  and 
our  Pacific  coast  have  been  inhabitants  of  it. 

The  countries  contiguous  to,  and  dependent  on,  China 
may  be  briefly  dismissed.  Manchuria  consists  of  three 
provinces.  Moukden  or  Shing-king  commences  at  the 
eastern  extremity  of  the  Great  Wall,  and  is  bounded  on 
the  south  by  the  Gulf  of  Pe-che-lee.  Here,  in  the 
country  from  which  they  originally  came,  the  emperors 
are  buried.  Kirin  is  to  the  eastward  of  Moukden  and 
borders  on  Corea.  Here  the  famous  wild  plant,  ginseng, 
a mild  aromatic  to  which  the  Chinese  attribute,  however, 
for  superstitious  reasons,  miraculous  properties,  is  gath- 
ered as  an  exclusive  monopoly  of  the  emperor.  Till 
about  a century  ago  they  would  never  believe  that  this 
plant  could  grow  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  But 
it  then  was  discovered  in  New  England  also.  In  1752 
the  celebrated  Bev.  Jonathan  Edwards  complains  in  a 
letter  to  his  friend,  the  Bev.  Mr.  McCulloch  in  Scotland, 
that  since  it  had  been  found  the  previous  summer  in  the 
woods  about  Stockbridge  and  elsewhere  in  New  England, 
and  in  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations,  “ the  traders  in 
Albany  have  been  eager  to  purchase  all  they  could  of 
the  root  to  send  to  England,  where  they  make  great 
profit  by  it.  This  has  occasioned  our  Indians  of  all 
sorts,  young  and  old,  to  spend  abundance  of  time  in  the 
woods,  and  sometimes  to  a great  distance,  in  the  neglect 
of  public  worship  and  their  husbandry,  and  also  in  going 
much  to  Albany  to  sell  their  roots  (which  proves  worse 
to  them  than  going  into  the  woods),  where  they  are 
always  much  in  the  way  of  temptation  and  drunken- 
ness.” This  was  probably  the  first  of  the  troubles 
arising  out  of  commercial  intercourse  between  China 


62 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


and  America.  The  East  India  Company  sold  the  gin- 
seng in  China  at  a profit  of  five  or  six  hundred  per  cent. 
The  trade  in  it  yet  continues.  Large  quantities  are 
annually  sent  to  China  from  the  newer  parts  of  the 
West,  especially  from  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  which 
correspond  somewhat  in  climate  with  the  districts  where 
it  is  found  in  Manchuria  and  Corea. 

The  other  province,  called  by  the  Chinese  Hih-lung- 
kiang,  or  “ the  river  of  the  Black  Dragon,”  borders  on 
the  Russian  territory.  The  river  which  gives  its  name 
to  the  province  is,  in  fact,  the  Amoor.  A district  of 
three  hundred  thousand  square  miles  in  extent  north  of 
this  river  was  gradually  taken  possession  of  by  the  Rus- 
sians, who,  in  the  year  1860,  by  a masterly  diplomacy, 
while  the  Chinese  government  was  struggling  against 
England  and  France,  backed,  we  may  add,  by  at  least 
the  moral  influence  of  that  nation  and  the  United  States, 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a formal  cession  of  it.  This  was, 
however,  under  Providence,  a means  for  bringing  it 
more  within  the  range  of  the  influences  of  civilization 
and  Christianity,  as  well  as  of  giving  to  Russia  a terri- 
tory much  needed  for  the  development  of  her  vast 
Asiatic  possessions. 

All  these  regions  are  excessively  cold  in  winter,  and 
sterile  and  thinly  peopled.  The  people  seem  to  be 
chiefly  employed  in  tending  sheep  or  rearing  horses  and 
other  cattle.  As  they  approach  the  frontiers  of  the  do- 
minions of  the  czar  of  Russia  they  become  very  indepen- 
dent of  Chinese  rule,  yet  they  acknowledge  the  laws  and 
follow  most  of  the  customs  of  the  “ Central  Kingdom.” 
They  will  be  described  more  at  length  in  a future  chapter. 

The  western  and  Mongol  Tartars,  commencing  from 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  63 

the  western  line  of  the  Great  Wall,  extend  as  a distinct 
race  to  the  very  borders  of  the  Caspian  sea,  where  they, 
too,  give  the  hand  to  the  subjects  of  Russia.  They  are 
thoroughly  a nomadic  people,  wandering  with  their 
flocks  from  one  region  to  another,  dwelling  in  tents  and 
still  making  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow  in  warfare  as  in 
hunting.  They  appear  to  be  all  Buddhists ; the  bonzes 
or  priests,  who  accompany  them  in  their  wanderings,  are 
called  “shamans.”  They  are  governed  through  the 
medium  of  their  own  princes  and  khans,  but  a vast 
portion  of  them  acknowledge  a dependence  on  China. 

On  the  western  side  of  China,  bordering  principally 
on  the  province  of  Sz-chuen,  are  other  Tartar  tribes, 
called  the  Si- fan  and  Tur-fan,  who  occupy  inaccessible 
mountains,  and  are  quite  independent  of  the  Chinese, 
who,  however,  count  them  among  their  subjects  : they  are 
all  Buddhists,  and  said  to  be  completely  under  the  con- 
trol of  their  Lama  priests  and  excessively  superstitious. 

On  the  southern  side  of  China,  bordering  on  Yun- 
nan, is  an  exceedingly  mountainous  and  wild  territory, 
occupied  by  several  Tibetan  tribes,  whose  chief  wealth 
consists  in  their  flocks  and  herds.  The  imperial  author- 
ity over  them  is  but  doubtful,  although  their  chiefs  re- 
ceive titles  of  honor  from  Peking.  On  the  utmost  out- 
skirts of  the  empire,  toward  the  west,  are  found  a 
number  of  small  settlements  or  stations,  called  “ native 
jurisdictions,”  where  the  people  are  ruled  to  some 
extent  by  their  own  khans  in  the  name  of  the  emperor. 
Others,  however,  have  during  the  last  few  years  taken 
advantage  of  the  national  troubles  with  foreigners  to 
proclaim  their  independence.  Whether  they  will  be 
able  to  maintain  it  is  doubtful. 


64 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tlie  principal  islands  of  China  are  Formosa  and  Hai- 
nan. Formosa  owes  the  name  by  which  it  is  known  in 
the  West  to  the  Portuguese,  who  called  it  Ilka  Formosa 
(the  beautiful  island),  and  it  is  by  far  the  more  desirable 
region  of  the  two.  It  lies  just  opposite  the  coast  of  Fuli- 
kien,  from  which  it  is  distant  about  twenty  leagues.  It  is 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  long,  with  an  average  breadth 
of  about  fifty  miles ; the  climate  is  delightful.  The  island 
is  divided  longitudinally  by  a chain  of  high  mountains ; 
westward  of  this  chain  it  is  occupied  by  the  Chinese,  but 
the  country  eastward  of  the  mountains  is  still  inhabited 
by  the  aborigines,  who  are  described  as  a primitive  and 
savage  race,  bearing  some  common  resemblance  to  the 
Malays  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  in  the 
Pacific.  Hai-nan,  the  second  island,  is  rather  smaller 
than  Formosa,  being  about  a hundred  and  fifty  miles  in 
length  by  sixty  in  breadth.  It  is  separated  from  the 
continental  province  of  Kwang-tung  by  a very  narrow 
and  shallow  strait.  The  climate  is  excessively  hot,  and 
the  island  is  much  exposed  to  those  terrible  tempests — 
the  typhoons — which  annually  strew  the  Chinese  seas 
with  wrecks.  The  mountains  in  the  interior  of  Hai-nan 
are  occupied  by  another  wild  race,  who  not  unfrequently 
beat  up  the  quarters  of  the  Chinese  on  the  coast. 

The  Chinese,  previous  to  the  treaties  of  the  past  few 
years  with  the  nations  of  the  West,  affected  to  treat  all 
foreign  nations  as  tributary  that  have  once  sent  an 
ambassador  to  their  court.  In  their  court  calendar, 
Portugal,  Spain,  Holland,  England  are  all  tributaries. 
Their  list  must  be  greatly  shortened,  but  still  there 
would  remain  some  really  tributary  states.  The  princi- 
pal of  these  are  Corea,  Cochin-china,  Loo-choo  and  Siam. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  65 

All  these  annually  send  their  tribute  to  Peking,  and, 
with  very  little  interruption,  they  appear  to  have  done 
so  for  many  ages. 

If  we  limit  our  observations  to  China  Proper  (which, 
it  must  be  remembered,  is  about  twelve  hundred  Eng- 
lish miles  long,  and  nearly  as  broad  as  it  is  long),  and 
make  every  deduction  for  the  less-favored  parts  of  the 
land,  we  must  still  admit,  with  our  best  informed  travel- 
ers, that  it  deserves  the  name  of  a vast,  a fertile,  a 
wealthy  and  a beautiful  country. 

The  zoology  of  China  is  very  rich  and  varied,  for 
although  there  are  scarcely  any  animals  which  are  not 
to  be  found  in  some  other  countries,  she  has  within  her 
wide  limits  and  diversified  surface  nearly  all  those  which 
are  found  collectively  in  all  the  other  countries  of  the 
globe.  The  elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  the  dromedary 
abound  in  various  parts.  Bears  are  very  common  in  the 
hilly  country  west  of  Peking,  and  the  paws  of  these  ani- 
mals, which  abound  in  fat,  are  eaten  by  the  Chinese  as  a 
delicacy.  Deer  of  various  kinds,  from  the  majestic  elk 
to  the  diminutive  tippity,  wild  boars,  foxes  and  other 
wild  animals,  swarm  in  some  of  the  provinces.  The 
lion,  the  royal  tiger,  the  leopard,  the  ounce,  the  lynx, 
the  hyena,  the  jackal  and  other  savage  creatures,  are 
found.  It  is  declared  by  the  Chinese  that  the  tiger 
abounds  to  a fearful  extent  in  some  parts  of  the  empire, 
but  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  a good  many  of  the 
animals  they  speak  of  are  not  tigers,  but  leopards. 
The  lion  has  become  degenerate  and  scarce.  The  woods 
of  the  south  swarm  with  a breed  of  wild-cat,  which, 
though  rather  small,  is  fierce  and  altogether  untamable. 


66 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tins  noxious  creature  is  considered  by  Chinese  epicures 
as  an  exquisite  kind  of  game,  and  it  is  served  up  in 
ragouts  and  stews  at  table,  after  being  fed  for  some  time 
in  a cage. 

They  have  domesticated  the  horse,  the  ox,  the  buffalo, 
the  dog,  the  cat,  the  pig  and  all  the  other  animals  which 
have  been  domesticated  in  Europe,  together  with  some 
creatures  with  which  we  have  failed. 

Some  of  the  native  birds  are  very  splendid.  The  . 
gold  and  silver  pheasants  of  China  are  now  quite  famil- 
iar to  the  eye  in  America.  The  still  more  splendid 
bird,  called  the  Reeves’  pheasant,  is  yet  a rarity,  even 
in  China.  Its  tail  feathers  are  of  the  extraordinary 
length  of  six  feet  and  surpassingly  beautiful.  Another 
description  is  called  by  the  eminent  naturalist,  Mr.  Ben- 
nett, the  medallion  pheasant,  from  a beautiful  membrane 
of  resplendent  colors,  which  is  displayed  or  contracted 
according  as  the  bird  is  more  or  less  roused.  The  bril- 
liant hues  are  chiefly  purple,  with  bright  red  and  green 
sj^ots,  which  vary  in  intensity  according  to  the  degree 
of  excitement.  It  should  appear  that  this  rare  pheasant 
might  be  acclimated  in  most  parts  of  Europe  and  in 
America.  The  country  abounds  in  wild  fowls  of  all 
kinds.  The  immense  flocks  of  geese  and  wild-ducks 
during  the  winter  months  quite  cover  the  rivers  of  the 
south,  and  excite  the  notice  of  all  strangers.  In  the 
summer  season  they  migrate  to  the  north.  A hand- 
some species  of  teal,  usually  called  “ the  mandarin 
duck,”  is  very  common.  Unlike  its  fellows,  it  gen- 
erally roosts  in  high  situations  upon  trees  or  rocks. 
The  fishing  cormorant,  which  the  Chinese  have  per- 
fectly tamed  and  trained  to  their  will,  is  well  known  by 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  67 

drawings,  engravings  and  descriptions.  It  is  a brown 
bird  of  tbe  pelican  family,  with  yellow  bill,  white  throat 
and  whitish  breast  spotted  with  brown,  having  a compact, 
rounded  tail.  While  employed  in  diving  and  fishing  for 
their  masters  these  birds  are  prevented  from  swallowing 
what  they  catch  by  means  of  a ring  or  tight  collar  passed 
over  the  lower  part  of  the  neck ; but  when  their  work  is 
over,  this  ring  is  removed  and  they  are  allowed  to  fish 
for  themselves  or  to  feed  upon  the  refuse.  It  is  said, 
however,  that  they  are  sometimes  so  perfectly  trained 
and  disciplined  as  to  need  no  restraint  whatever — that 
they  will  finish  the  work  for  their  masters  before  they 
think  of  themselves.  On  many  of  the  more  considerable 
rivers  there  exists  a large  aquatic  population,  dwelling 
in  boats  and  barges  and  seldom  setting  foot  on  shore. 
With  two  or  three  good  fishing  cormorants,  a family  of 
this  sort  can  nearly  support  itself.  Quails  are  very 
abundant,  and  the  Chinese  have  trained  them  to  fight 
like  our  game-cocks.  The  sport  is  much  cherished  by 
the  common  people,  who  will  frequently  stake  all  they 
possess  on  the  result  of  a quail-fight.  A delicate  species 
of  ortolan  makes  its  appearance  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Canton  during  the  rice  harvest.  The  Chinese  call  it  the 
“ rice  bird.” 

In  other  parts  of  the  empire,  crocodiles,  alligators  and 
monstrous  serpents  exist ; but  the  neighborhood  of  Can- 
ton, though  under  the  tropic,  is  little  infested  by  these 
reptiles  or  by  any  venomous  creatures.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a slender  snake,  between  two  and  three  feet  long, 
which  is  very  much  dreaded  by  the  natives,  and  the  bite 
of  which  is  said  to  cause  inevitable  death  in  a few  hours. 
It  is  covered  from  head  to  tail  with  alternate  bands  of 


68 


TUE  OLDEST  AND  T1IE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


black  and  white,  and  is  called  by  the  Chinese  the  black- 
and-white  snake. 

Fish  are  in  great  and  almost  endless  variety.  An 
immense  number  of  people  on  the  coast  are  maintained 
in  various  ways  by  the  fisheries;  a portion  of  them 
spend  their  whole  lives  on  their  boats  or  vessels,  except 
when  they  come  ashore  to  purchase  clothing,  food  and 
other  necessaries,  or  to  worship  at  the  shrine  of  some 
favorite  deity.  Besides  those  produced  in  the  seas,  gulfs, 
bays  and  estuaries,  fresh-water  fish  (of  which  great  care 
is  taken)  swarm  in  most  of  the  rivers,  lakes,  canals  and 
brooks.  On  the  sea-coast  and  at  Canton,  sturgeon,  soles, 
carp,  shrimps  and  other  species  are  held  by  foreigners  in 
high  estimation.  The  Chinese  stew  made  from  sturgeon 
is  so  palatable  as  to  have  been  introduced  at  their 
tables.  The  beautiful  gold  and  silver  fishes  which  orna- 
ment our  vases  and  garden  ponds  came  originally  from 
China,  where  they  are  very  numerous.  They  are  a 
species  of  carp,  and  were  perhaps  carried  by  the  Dutch 
first  to  Java,  and  thence  to  Holland,  whence  they  have 
been  brought  to  England  and  to  America.  Some  of 
them  have  escaped  into  the  rivers  in  congenial  climates 
in  America.  We  have  seen  some  in  Philadelphia  which 
were  caught  in  the  Schuylkill  river. 

Among  the  curious  insects  of  China  there  are  some 
which  call  for  notice.even  in  a brief  and  general  sketch 
like  the  present.  A monstrous  spider  is  found  inhabit- 
ing trees,  and  attaining  to  such  size  and  strength  as  to 
be  able  to  catch  and  devour  small  birds,  as  our  spiders 
do  flies.  Locusts  sometimes  commit  extensive  ravages, 
but  their  depredations  do  not  usually  extend  over  any 
great  tract  of  country  at  once,  and  they  seldom  appear 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  69 

two  years  successively.  Eastward  of  the  city  of  Canton, 
on  a range  of  hills  called  Lo-fau-shan,  there  are  butter- 
flies of  large  size  and  night-moths  of  remarkable  dimen- 
sions and  most  brilliant  coloring,  which  are  captured  for 
transmission  to  the  court  at  Peking  and  for  sale  to 
foreigners  and  others.  Some  of  these  insects  measure 
nine  inches  across ; their  ground  color  is  a rich  and 
varied  orange-brown  ; in  the  centre  of  each  wing  there  is 
a triangular  transparent  spot,  resembling  a piece  of  mica. 

' Sphinx-moths,  also  of  great  beauty  and  size,  are  com- 
mon in  the  south,  and  in  their  splendid  coloring  and 
rapid,  noiseless  flight  from  flower  to  flower  at  the  close 
of  day,  remind  one  of  the  humming-bird.  The  common 
cricket  is  caught  and  sold  in  the  markets  for  gambling, 
and  persons  of  rank,  as  well  as  the  coolies  and  lower 
classes,  irritate  two  of  these  insects  in  a bowl,  betting 
upon  which  shall  prove  the  conqueror — an  amusement 
which  may  seem  trivial  to  some,  but  which  is  surely  far 
less  objectionable- in  every  way  than  the  brutal  exhi- 
bitions in  which  men  beat  and  bruise  each  other  or  tor- 
ture bulls,  dogs  and  other  powerful  animals  worthy  of  bet- 
ter treatment.  A gigantic  species  of  the  cicada — described 
as  being  more  than  four  times  the  size  of  the  cicada  of 
the  south  of  Italy  and  Greece — is  very  common  among 
the  trees  in  the  neighborhood  of  Canton,  and  in  every 
other  part  of  the  country  where  the  climate  is  warm  and 
the  pine  tree  abundant.  All  through  the  summer  its 
stridulous  sound  is  heard  from  the  trees  and  woods  with 
deafening  loudness.  Even  those  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  the  noise  of  the  cicada  in  the  American  forests 
have  been  astonished  and  almost  stunned  by  the  Chinese 
insect.  These  loud  sounds  proceed  solely  from  the  males, 


70 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE 


tlie  females  being  perfectly  silent.  This  difference  was 
known  to  the  old  Greek  epigrammatist,  who  said,  “ The 
male  cicada  leads  a happy  life,  for  he  makes  all  the 
noise  himself,  and  his  wife  makes  none.”  Chinese  boys 
often  capture  the  males,  tie  a straw  round  the  abdomen, 
so  as  to  irritate  the  sounding  apparatus,  and  carry  them 
through  the  streets  in  this  predicament,  to  the  great 
annoyance  of  strangers.  The  fire-fly,  or,  as  it  is  called 
here,  the  “ lantern-fly,”  is  very  abundant  in  many  parts 
of  the  empire.  It  is  far  larger  than  the  fire-fly  of 
Southern  Europe,  and  said  to  be  as  much  more  lumin- 
ous. It  has  orange-yellow  wings  with  black  extremities. 
Its  appearance,  when  seen  flitting  through  the  skirts  of 
a thicket  or  grove  in  the  summer  evenings,  is  striking 
and  poetical,  and  imparts  a brilliant  aspect  to  the  shades 
of  night.  The  pih-lah-shu,  or  wax-tree,  affords  nourish- 
ment to  an  insect  which  is  supposed  to  belong  to  the  coc- 
cus tribe.  It  is  covered  with  a white  powder,  which  it 
imparts  to  the  stem  of  the  particular  plant  it  inhabits, 
from  the  bark  of  which  it  is  collected  by  the  natives. 
This  substance  remembles  beeswax,  and  is  used  as  such. 
A casing  of  it,  colored  with  vermilion,  is  often  used  to 
enclose  the  tallow  candle.  Small  as  are  these  insects,  the 
quantity  of  wax  is  said  to  be  very  considerable.  This 
wax  is  used  as  a medicine,  as  well  as  made  into  candles 
and  tapers.  The  tree  or  shrub  it  inhabits  resembles  our 
privet.  "Wax  is  also  made  from  wild  and  domestic  bees, 
but  honey  is  said  not  to  be  much  in  demand.  The  mantis , 
or  soothsayer — so  called  by  us  from  the  superstitious  re- 
spect paid  to  it  in  idolatrous  countries  on  account  of  the 
priest-like  posture  in  which  it  raises  up  its  anterior  legs — 
is  common  in  Southern  China.  The  Chinese  are  fond 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  71 

of  making  collections  of  curious  insects,  some  of  which, 
find  their  way  to  our  museums.  The  most  valuable  in- 
sect of  China — that  from  which  the  name  of  the  empire 
is  probably  derived,  the  silkworm — we  will  briefly  notice 
in  a future  paragraph. 

China  is  uncommonly  rich  in  vegetable  productions. 
The  southern  provinces  possess  all  that  are  found  grow- 
ing in  the  tropical  regions.  In  other  parts,  oranges, 
lemons,  tea,  sugar-canes,  rice,  pomegranates,  black  and 
white  mulberries,  the  vine,  walnut,  chestnut,  peach,  apri- 
cot and  fig  are  seen  growing  on  the  same  spot  of  ground. 
There  are  several  pleasant  native  fruits,  such  as  the  lai- 
chi,  lung-yen  or  “ dragon’s  eye,”  and  others,  for  which 
foreigners  have  not  yet  found  names.  Camellias,  cy- 
presses and  bamboos,  of  all  sorts  and  sizes  and  in  immense 
quantities,  are  also  found.  The  mountains,  for  the  most 
part,  are  covered  with  pines  and  other  forest  trees.  The 
list  we  already  possess  of  Chinese  plants  is  a very  copi- 
ous one,  but  many  new  discoveries  remain  to  gratify  and 
reward  botanical  research.  The  principal  object  of  cul- 
tivation is  rice,  but  in  the  north-western  provinces, 
where  there  are  many  districts  too  cold  and  dry  for  this 
grain,  rice  is  replaced  by  wheat,  millet  and  other  grains. 
Yams,  potatoes,  turnips,  onions,  beans,  and  a white  kind 
of  cabbage,  called  pih-tsai,  are  extensively  and  very  care- 
fully cultivated.  The  Chinese  pay  more  attention  to  the 
manuring  of  the  soil  of  their  gardens  and  orchards  than 
any  other  people,  whether  in  the  East  or  in  the  West. 

Of  all  the  natural  productions  of  China,  the  tea-plant 
is  the  most  interesting  to  us,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
important  as  an  article  of  home  consumption. 


72 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tea  is  grown,  more  or  less,  in  many  parts  of  tlie 
country,  but  principally  in  the  province  of  Fukien 
and  about  the  Yang-tsz-kiang.  It  is  cultivated  on 
the  hills,  these  being  sometimes  clothed  to  the  very  sum- 
mit with  the  fragrant  shrub,  a species  of  camellia,  which 
bears  a white  flower.  The  difference  in  the  quality  of 
the  teas  depends  partly  on  the  district  in  which  they  are 
grown,  and  partly  on  the  season  when  they  are  gath- 
ered, as  the  young  leaves  of  the  spring  are  of  much 
flner  flavor  than  the  full-grown  leaves  of  the  summer 
or  the  still  coarser  ones  of  the  autumn.  The  plants 
produce  each,  on  an  average,  about  half  a pound  of  the 
dried  leaves  in  the  course  of  the  year. 

The  tea-growers  are  generally  small  proprietors,  who, 
with  the  help  of  their  families,  cultivate  their  own  pieces 
of  land,  which  are  divided  from  those  of  their  neighbors 
by  a narrow  path  or  ditch.  The  farmers,  after  having 
gathered  their  crops,  partially  dry  them  in  the  sun,  just 
sufficiently  to  prevent  their  being  spoiled,  and  in  that 
state  they  are  sold  to  the  agents  of  the  merchants,  who 
usually  contract  with  the  farmer  to  take  his  whole  crop 
at  a certain  price. 

The  best  account  of  tea-gathering,  and  of  the  districts 
which  produce  the  greatest  quantities  of  tea,  has  been 
given  very  recently  by  Mr.  Robert  Fortune,  an  intelli- 
gent English  botanist  and  traveler.1  In  the  year  1848 
the  court  of  directors  of  the  East  India  Company  were 
anxious  to  improve  the  cultivation  of  tea  in  their  own 
dominions  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Himmaleh  moun- 
tains. Government  plantations  existed  in  those  parts, 

1 His  work  on  this  subject  is  entitled,  A Journey  to  the  Tea  Countries  of 
China,  including  Sung-lo  and  the  Bohea  Hills.  London : Murray,  1852. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  73 


and  in  one  or  two  districts  in  the  Tenasserim  provinces, 
which  had  been  ceded  in  1826,  after  the  war  with  the 
Burmese.  But  the  tea-plants  were  not  of  the  best  qual- 
ities. They  had  been  originally  imported  from  the  south- 
ern provinces  of  China,  where  inferior  teas  are  grown ; 
and  in  order  to  get  at  the  finer  varieties  it  was  essential 
to  explore  the  northern  provinces.  It  was  thought,  more- 
over, that  the  cultivation  of  tea  did  not  prosper  in  India, 
for  want  of  good  manufacturers  and  proper  implements. 
Although  the  treaty  of  peace  which  closed  the  war  with 
the  Chinese  in  1842  opened  several  new  ports,  it  by  no 
means  gave  free  access  to  the  north  of  China  or  to  any 
part  of  the  interior,  and  it  was  believed  that  no  foreigner 
could  safely  penetrate  into  the  best  tea  districts.  Mr. 
Fortune,  however,  undertook  the  feat.  This  gentleman 
had  previously  spent  three  years  in  the  Middle  King- 
dom, absorbed  in  botanical  pursuits ; he  could  speak  the 
Chinese  language,  and  his  previous  experience  had  in- 
duced the  belief  that  the  Chinese  inhabitants  of  the 
north,  and  especially  of  the  interior,  were  a civil,  harm- 
less, obliging  people.  In  1848,  Mr.  Fortune,  unaccom- 
panied by  any  European,  and  himself  disguised  as  a 
native  Chinaman,  started  on  his  journey.  He  returned 
safely  to  England  in  September,  1851,  having  forwarded 
to  the  Himmaleh  mountains  twenty  thpusand  plants  from 
the  best  black  and  green  tea  countries  of  Central  China, 
together  with  six  first-rate  native  manufacturers,  two 
headmen  and  a good  supply  of  Chinese  implements 
from  the  celebrated  “ Hwui-chau  districts.” 

The  soil  in  which  Mr.  Fortune  found  some  of  the 
finest  of  his  black-tea  plants  was  in  the  Bohea  district, 
called  by  the  Chinese  Wu-i  Shan,  or  the  Wu-i  moun- 


74 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tains.  This  soil  he  describes  as  being  moderately  rich, 
of  a reddish  color,  and  well  mixed  with  debris  of  rocks. 
It  was  kept  moist  by  the  water  constantly  oozing  from 
the  sides  of  the  rocks,  and  was  well  drained — on  the 
mountains  in  consequence  of  its  height,  and  on  the  plains 
by  reason  of  its  slight  elevation  above  the  water-courses. 
In  the  month  of  June  the  temperature  at  Wu-i  Shan 
ranged  from  85°  to  95°  Fahr.,  and  in  July  it  rose  to 
100°,  beyond  which  it  rarely  rises.  In  winter  the  max- 
imum shown  by  the  thermometer  was  78°,  and  the  mini- 
mum 44°. 

Mr.  Fortune  informs  us  that  black  and  green  tea  are 
both  really  made  from  the  same  variety  of  plants,  the 
difference  in  the  appearance  of  these  teas  (when  the 
green  teas  are  not  artificially  colored)  depending  entirely 
upon  manipulation.  It  would  appear  that  age,  as  in 
the  mulberry  plant,  injures  the  quality  of  the  produce. 
In  the  black-tea  districts,  as  well  as  in  the  green,  great 
quantities  of  young  plants  are  annually  raised  from  seeds. 
These  seeds  are  gathered  in  October,  and  kept  mixed 
up  with  sand  and  earth  during  the  winter  months.  In 
spring  they  are  sown  thickly  in  a corner  of  the  farm, 
from  which  they  are  afterward  transplanted.  "When  a 
year  old  they  are  about  ten  inches  high,  and  are  ready 
for  transplanting.  They  are  then  planted  in  rows  about 
four  feet  apart;  five  or  six  plants  are  placed  in  each 
hole,  and  the  holes  are  about  four  feet  from  each  other 
in  the  rows.  A plantation  of  tea  at  a distance  looks 
like  a shrubbery  of  evergreens.  The  plantations  are 
suffered  to  grow  unmolested  for  three  years,  when  they 
are  well  established  and  produce  strong  and  vigorous 
shoots. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  75 

The  tea  farms  at  Wu-i  Shan  were  small  in  extent,  no 
single  farm  producing  more  than  a chop  of  six  hundred 
chests.  A chop,  or  lot,  is  made  up  as  follows : A tea 
merchant  from  one  of  the  larger  towns  in  the  interior 
sends  his  agents  to  all  the  small  towns,  villages  arid  tem- 
ples in  the  district  to  purchase  teas  from  the  Buddhist 
priests,  who  are  large  growers,  and  from  small  farmers. 
All  the  teas  so  purchased  are  taken  to  the  merchant’s 
house,  where  they  are  mixed  together,  care  being  taken 
to  keep  the  different  grades  apart  as  much  as  possible. 
By  such  a method  a chop  of  six  hundred  and  twenty  or 
six  hundred  and  thirty  chests  is  made,  and  all  the  tea  of 
this  chop  is  of  the  same  general  description. 

The  process  of  manufacture  is  briefly  this : In  the 
northern  provinces  the  leaves  from  which  green  tea  is 
to  be  made  being  gathered  are  brought  from  the  planta- 
tions and  spread  thinly  out  on  small  bamboo  trays,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  their  moisture.  In  two  hours  the 
leaves  are  dry ; they  are  then  thrown  into  roasting-pans 
and  rapidly  moved  about  and  shaken  up.  Affected  by 
the  heat,  they  make  a crackling  noise,  become  moist  and 
flaccid,  and  yield  a considerable  portion  of  vapor.  In 
this  state  they  remain  five  minutes,  when  they  are  drawn 
quickly  out  and  placed  upon  the  rolling-table.  Men 
take  their  stations  at  the  rolling-table  and  divide  the 
leaves  among  them.  Each  takes  as  many  as  he  can  press 
with  his  hands  and  makes  them  up  in  the  form  of  a ball. 
The  ball  is  rolled  upon  the  table  and  greatly  compressed 
to  force  out  the  last  remaining  moisture  and  to  give  the 
leaves  the  necessary  twist.  The  leaves  are  then  shaken 
out  upon  flat  trays,  and  are  carried  once  more  to  the 
roasting-pan,  where  they  are  kept  in  rapid  motion  by 


76 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  hands  of  the  workmen.  In  an  hour  and  a half  the 
leaves  are  well  dried  and  their  color  is  fixed.  So  ends 
the  first  process.  The  next  one  consists  in  winnowing 
and  passing  the  tea  through  sieves  of  various  sizes,  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  impurities  and  to  divide  the  tea  into 
the  kinds  designated  by  the  names  which  we  commonly 
apply  to  them.  During  this  process  the  tea  is  refined — 
the  coarse  kinds  once,  and  the  finer  sorts  twice  or  thrice. 
Such  is  the  manufacture  of  the  most  grateful  of  our  bev- 
erages. Black  tea,  in  the  Wu-i  mountains  and  else- 
where in  the  southern  provinces,  undergoes  similar  treat- 
ment, but  the  method  of  manipulation,  as  before  indi- 
cated, is  not  the  same ; the  difference,  according  to  Mr. 
Fortune,  being  sufficient  to  account  for  some  of  the  effects 
experienced  by  the  foreign  drinker  who  swallows  green 
tea  only. 

The  tea,  being  manufactured,  is  secured  in  the  house 
of  the  merchant,  resident  in  one  of  the  larger  towns, 
whence  it  is  conveyed  to  the  sea-coast,  there  to  be  de- 
livered to  foreign  purchasers.  The  merchant  who  in- 
tends his  tea  for  the  Canton  market  engages  a num- 
ber of  coolies  to  carry  the  chests  northward  across  the 
Bohea  mountains  to  Ho-kau.  If  the  teas  are  of  the 
common  kind,  each  coolie  carries  two  chests  slung  over 
his  shoulder  on  a bamboo  pole,  one  being  suspended  at 
each  end.  These  chests  are  often  much  knocked  about 
during  the  journey  over  the  steep  and  rugged  moun- 
tains, and  the  carrier  is  allowed  to  rest  them  on  the 
ground,  which  is  often  wet  and  dirty.  The  finest  teas 
must,  however,  never  touch  the  soil  during  the  whole 
journey,  and  they  are  accordingly  carried  in  single 
chests  across  the  coolie’s  shoulder.  In  six  days  the 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  77 

coolie  readies  Ho-kau,  where  the  teas  are  placed  in  flat- 
bottomed  boats  to  proceed  by  water  to  Canton,  the  time 
occupied  in  the  transport  from  the  Bobea  country  to 
Canton  averaging  from  six  weeks  to  two  months.  The 
tea  intended  for  Shanghai  and  the  eastern  ports  is  sent 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

The  green  tea  obtains  its  complexion,  in  most  of  what 
is  exported,  from  the  presence  of  foreign  coloring  mat- 
ter. By  one  of  those  perverse  tastes  which  obtain  among 
us,  our  early  tea-purchasers  betrayed  a strong  predilec- 
tion for  a certain  color.  “ Foreigners,”  said  the  Chinese, 
“ like  to  have  their  tea  uniform  and  pretty so  they 
poison  the  herb  to  gratify  the  ridiculous  tastes  of  Eng- 
land and  America  for  bright  green,  just  as  many  of  our 
pickle-makers  poison  their  pickles.  They  throw  in  a 
blue  substance,  commonly  known  as  “ Prussian  blue”  or 
prussiate  of  iron  (cyanide  of  potassium  and  iron),  and 
they  mix  it  with  a quantity  of  gypsum.  They  never 
think  of  drinking  this  tea  themselves,  but  the  more 
gypsum  and  blue  they  can  communicate  to  the  plant,  the 
higher  becomes  its  value  in  the  eyes  of  their  best  cus- 
tomers ; and  the  dyeing  process  accordingly  goes  on  in 
China  to  an  alarming  extent.  It  is  calculated  that  in 
every  hundred  pounds  of  some  of  the  cheaper  colored 
green  tea  consumed  by  our  people,  more  than  half  a 
pound  of  coloring  blue  and  gypsum  is  contained ! 

The  consumption  of  tea  among  Chinese  themselves  is 
truly  immense.  They  make  it  best  by  putting  a few 
leaves  in  the  cup  and  pouring  hot  water  over  it  when 
wanted,  but  in  shops  and  families  it  is  kept  in  pots  ready 
made.  A true  Chinese  is  never  seen  to  drink  cold  water, 
for  he  thinks  it  destructive  to  health,  and  hates  it.  Tea 


78 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


is  his  beverage  from  morning  till  night.  He  uses  it 
without  milk  or  sugar.  He  takes  it,  in  short,  as  the 
Persians,  Arabs  and  Turks  take  their  coffee,  without  the 
admixture  of  any  other  ingredient.  If  a Chinaman  is 
traveling,  he  stops  at  an  inn  to  take  his  cup ; if  he  pays 
a visit,  he  is  offered  tea  as  soon  as  he  arrives ; and  if  he 
receives  a visitor,  he  immediately  plies  him  with  a cup  of 
tea  and  a pipe,  just  as  the  Turk  produces  his  tiny  cup 
of  coffee  and  long  chibouque.  Before  dinner  he  takes  a 
cup  of  tea  to  stimulate  appetite,  and  after  dinner  he  in- 
variably takes  another  cup  to  promote  digestion.  With 
such  incessant  potations  there  can  he  little  doubt  that  he 
would  be  a dead  man  in  three  months  if  he  betook 
himself  to  the  use  of  the  colored  green  tea  which  we  so 
rashly  consume. 

Tea-drinking  prevails  to  an  almost  equal  extent  in 
regions  far  beyond  the  Great  Wall.  John  Bell  of  An- 
termony  found  it  universal  throughout  the  wilds  and 
steppes  of  Tartary.  Wherever  the  gentlemen  of  his 
Russian  embassy  stopped  in  those  regions,  scalding  hot 
tea  was  served  up  to  them.  But  the  Tartars  had  the 
disagreeable  custom  of  frequently  mixing  solvent  mut- 
ton fat,  and  even  salt,  in  their  tea-cups.  It  has  often 
been  said  that  Asia  may  be  divided  into  “ Tea-drinking 
Asia”  and  “Coffee-drinking  Asia.”  Where  the  use  of 
tea  ceases  that  of  coffee  begins,  and  is  quite  as  frequently 
in  requisition. 

The  following  advice  is  from  a native  Chinese  writer 
as  to  how  best  to  make  tea.  “ Whenever  the  tea  is  to  be 
infused  for  use,”  says  Tung-po,  “ take  water  from  a run- 
ning stream  and  boil  it  over  a lively  fire.  It  is  an  old 
custom  to  use  running  water,  boiled  over  a lively  fire ; 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  79 

that  from  springs  in  the  hills  is  said  to  be  the  best,  and 
river  water  the  next,  while  well  water  is  the  worst. 

“ When  making  an  infusion  do  not  boil  the  water  too 
hastily,  as  first  it  should  begin  to  sparkle  like  crabs’  eyes, 
then  somewhat  like  fishes’  eyes,  and  lastly  to  boil  up  like 
pearls  innumerable,  springing  and  waving  about.  This 
is  the  way  to  boil  the  water.” 

The  same  Chinese  author  gives  the  names  of  six 
different  kinds  of  tea,  all  of  which  are  in  high  repute. 
As  their  names  are  rather  flowery,  Mr.  Fortune  quotes 
them  for  the  reader’s  amusement.  They  are  these  : the 
“ first  spring  tea,”  the  “ white  dew,”  the  “ coral  dew,” 
the  “ dewy  shoots,”  the  “ money  shoots,”  and  the  “ rivu- 
let garden  tea.” 

“ Tea,”  says  he,  “ is  of  a cooling  nature,  and,  if  drunk 
too  freely,  will  produce  exhaustion  and  lassitude;  country 
people  before  drinking  it  add  ginger  and  salt,  to  counter- 
act this  cooling  property.  It  is  an  exceedingly  useful 
plant;  cultivate  it,  and  the  benefit  will  be  widely  spread; 
drink  it,  and  the  animal  spirits  will  be  lively  and  clear. 
The  chief  rulers,  dukes  and  nobility  esteem  it ; the  lower 
people,  the  poor  and  beggarly,  will  not  be  destitute  of 
it.”  Another  Chinese  author  says,  regarding  tea,  that 
“ drinking  it  tends  to  clear  away  all  impurities,  drives 
off  drowsiness,  removes  or  prevents  headache,  and  it  is 
universally  in  high  esteem.” 

The  great  object  of  agricultural  interest  to  the  popu- 
lation of  China  is  rice,  the  staple  food  of  all  classes, 
from  the  prince  to  the  peasant.  The  plains  present  an 
endless  succession  of  rice  or  paddy  fields,  which,  in  the 
early  stage  of  the  crops,  exhibit  a vast  surface  of  bright 
green,  but  turn  yellow  as  the  grain  ripens.  The  seed  is 


80 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


first  sown  in  small  patches,  enriched  with  a preparation 
of  liquid  manure,  which  promotes  its  immediate  devel- 
opment, so  that  soon  the  shoots  are  five  or  six  inches  in 
height,  when  they  are  transplanted  to  the  fields,  the 
laborers  dropping  them  into  holes,  about  six  together. 
This  method  of  cultivation  requires  much  additional 
labor,  but  it  greatly  economises  the  rich  and  valuable  soil 
of  the  river  shores,  and  gives  the  plants,  when  of  a ma- 
turity to  need  it,  the  space  and  sun  which  make  them 
vigorous  and  productive.  These  men  stand  up  to  the 
ankles  in  water,  for  it  is  requisite  that  rice  should  be  kept 
constantly  wet,  or  it  would  be  spoiled;  but  when  the  rice 
is  ripe  the  fields  are  drained,  so  that  the  reapers,  whose 
labors  commence  about  midsummer,  work  on  dry  ground. 

The  second  harvest  is  ripe  in  November,  after  which 
the  ground  is  usually  planted  with  cabbages  and  other 
vegetables ; but  in  some  parts  of  the  country  a crop  of 
cotton  is  obtained  between  the  two  rice  crops. 

The  Chinese  are  deservedly  celebrated  for  their  in- 
dustry and  ingenuity ; yet  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  in 
their  cultivation  of  the  soil  they  employ  very  little 
machinery,  and  are  strongly  prejudiced  against  the 
introduction  of  any  improvements  which  would  tend  to 
abridge  manual  labor.  Even  their  agricultural  imple- 
ments are  as  few  and  simple  as  they  were  in  the  early 
days  of  the  empire ; yet,  by  dint  of  the  excessive  toil  of 
the  vast  numbers  of  people  employed,  the  lands  are  as 
well  cultivated  and  as  highly  productive  as  they  are 
elsewhere  by  any  improved  system.  The  plough,  the 
harrow  and  the  hoe,  all  of  the  rudest  construction,  are 
the  chief  implements  used  by  a Chinese  farmer,  the 
spade  being  only  seen  occasionally.  The  plough  is 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  81 

usually  drawn  by  buffaloes,  but  sometimes  that  labor  is 
performed  by  men,  and  even  by  women,  among  the  low- 
est class  of  farmers.  Water-wheels  and  chain-pumps 
are  used  for  irrigating  the  lands.  The  water-wheel  is 
an  immense  yet  very  light  machine,  composed  entirely 
of  bamboo,  its  buckets  for  raising  the  water  being  made 
of  the  same  material ; it  is  fixed  adjoining  the  banks  of 
all  such  rivers  as  have  the  stream  running  one  way, 
which  keeps  it  going  night  and  day,  and  supplies  water 
to  a large  trough,  which  empties  its  contends  into  several 
channels  which  run  through  the  fields  in  various  direc- 
tions, and  thus  keep  them  constantly  watered.  The 
chain-pump  is  used  to  raise  water  from  the  wells  and 
ponds  for  the  same  purpose,  and,  being  portable,  is 
extremely  useful  to  the  Chinese  laborer ; consequently, 
the  making  of  such  machines  is  a branch  of  industry 
which  affords  employment  to  a great  number  of  mechanics. 

Another  great  edible  product  of  the  soil  of  China 
is  sugar.  It  is  not  made,  as  many  suppose  in  this 
country,  from  the  sorghum,  which  was  brought  to  us  by 
the  French.  This  plant  is  there  comparatively  little 
known,  and  is  only  used  for  fodder ; and  the  Chinese 
are  surprised  at  the  ingenuity  which  has  managed  to 
extract  so  excellent  an  article  of  sugar  as  we  do  from  its 
juice.  The  sugar-cane  is  sold  on  the  fruit-stalls  in 
pieces  a few  inches  in  length,  to  be  eaten  thus ; its  ex- 
pressed juice  is  evaporated  in  the  sun  and  made  into 
coarse  brown  sugar,  or  crystallized  into  rock-candy, 
which  is  pulverized  to  make  a finer  article ; and  it  is 
manufactured  into  a thousand  forms  of  colored  candies, 
syrups,  artificial  and  ornamental  work,  saturated  dried 

fruit,  and  others  to  please  the  eye  and  the  palate. 

6 


S2 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  provinces  adjoining  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  are  those 
where  cotton  is  most  extensively  cultivated ; and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Nanking  the  cloth  known  by  that  name 
is  made  in  large  quantities.  The  weavers  work  at  their 
own  homes,  for  there  are  no  large  manufactories  in 
China,  either  for  silks  or  cottons ; so  that  there  is 
scarcely  a cottage  where  there  is  not  some  manufacture 
carried  on,  either  for  sale  or  home  consumption,  and 
generally  for  both. 

The  introduction  of  cotton  instead  of  silk  for  clothing 
must  have  proved  a material  benefit  to  the  lower  classes, 
being  so  much  more  durable  and  better  suited  to  their 
occupations  than  silk  ; yet  it  was  not  till  after  the  acces- 
sion of  the  Ming  dynasty  that  it  was  cultivated  in  suffi- 
cient quantities  to  allow  of  its  coming  into  general  use. 
The  extended  cultivation  of  cotton  was  one  of  the  causes 
of  the  almost  entire  disappearance  of  sheep  from  the 
southern  provinces,  for  it  was  found  that  it  would  take 
much  more  land  to  supply  a certain  number  of  persons 
with  mutton  and  wool  than  with  rice  and  cotton ; there 
the  pastures  were  gradually  turned  into  rice  and  cotton 
plantations,  wffiile  sheep  were  banished  to  the  mountains 
and  less  fertile  parts  of  the  country.  For  the  same 
reason,  cattle,  horses  and  other  domestic  animals  are 
scarce ; the  few  that  are  kept  for  the  purposes  of  hus- 
bandry are  poor  and  ill-fed.  Dairy  farms  are  unknown 
in  China,  where  the  people  use  neither  milk  nor  butter, 
though  they  use  curds  in  various  forms. 

A large  portion  of  the  peasantry  in  the  silk  districts 
are  chiefly  engaged  in  taking  care  of  the  mulberry 
plantations,  which  require  constant  attention  that  they 
may  produce  fine  leaves.  The  worms  are  kept  in 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  83 

houses  in  the  centre  of  the  grove,  for  it  is  an  essential 
point  in  the  management  of  them  that  they  should  be 
always  surrounded  by  perfect  stillness,  as  it  is  found  that 
noise  is  extremely  injurious,  especially  to  the  younger 
ones.  The  care  of  feeding  and  tending  them  belongs  to 
the  female  part  of  the  family,  who  also  manage  the  silk 
after  it  is  spun  by  the  worms. 

The  provinces  which  produce  the  finest  silk  are  those 
' about  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  and  the  region 
adjoining ; but  there  are  species  of  worms  in  many  other 
parts  of  China  that  feed  on  some  of  the  common  forest 
trees,  and  from  which  are  obtained  coarse  silk,  which  is 
very  durable,  but  which  will  not  take  any  dye,  and  is  less 
glossy  and  beautiful  than  the  silk  of  the  worm  which  feeds 
on  the  mulberry  tree. 

The  Chinese  do  not  sell  their  best  silk  fabrics  to 
foreigners ; consequently  we  rarely  see  in  this  country 
the  rich  silks  which  they  wear  themselves.  Their 
velvets  are  not  equal  to  those  of  Europe,  but  their 
damasks  and  crapes  are  superb.  There  are  skillful 
workers  among  the  women  who  can  earn  thirty  dollars 
a month  by  embroidering  the  beautiful  shawls  of  China 
crape  which  are  so  much  admired  in  Western  countries. 

The  bamboo  is  one  of  the  Creator’s  best  gifts  to  the 
people  of  China,  and  it  is  wonderful  to  what  a variety  of 
uses  it  is  applied  by  them.  There  are'  many  varieties  of 
this  valuable  production  of  the  East,  some  kinds  being 
much  larger  and  stronger  than  others,  and  differing  also 
in  color.  In  the  construction  of  temporary  buildings  it 
is  far  more  useful  than  timber,  on  account  of  its  light- 
ness ; and  from  it  are  made  excellent  water-pipes,  the 
cabins  of  the  sampans,  or  family  boats,  ropes,  etc.,  whilst 


84 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


it  enters  largely  into  the  manufacture  of  paper.  It  is 
shaped  into  a thousand  articles  of  furniture,  household 
use,  rude  machinery,  and  amusement  or  ornament.  Its 
young  shoots  are  a very  delicate  vegetable  for  the  table, 
not  unlike  asparagus;  and  among  the  innumerable  minor 
purposes  to  which  it  is  applied,  we  may  mention  its  em- 
ployment at  Canton  in  the  manufacture  of  hats,  which 
are  made  and  sold  to  foreigners  in  that  city.  The  making 
of  these  hats  is  a specimen  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  Chi- 
nese, who  are  very  clever  in  imitating  anything  they  see, 
and  will  produce  the  counterpart  of  articles  of  foreign 
dress  with  the  most  minute  exactness.  The  body  of  the 
hat  is  made  of  a composition  formed  of  the  inner  part  of 
the  bamboo,  beaten  into  a pulp  and  mixed  with  glue.  It 
is  sp>read  on  a block  of  the  pmoper  shape,  and  when  dried, 
is  covered  and  lined  in  the  same  manner  as  gentlemen’s 
silk  hats  in  this  country.  There  is  another  small  species 
of  bamboo  which  grows  in  the  marshes,  seldom  measur- 
ing more  than  two  inches  in  diameter,  the  pith  of  which 
is  the  material  commonly  called  rice  paper.  The  pith 
is  used  in  its  natural  state,  being  only  pared  in  thin  slices 
and  rolled  out  into  flat  sheets,  as  we  receive  it  in  this 
country.  The  Chinese,  who  make  some  use  of  every- 
thing that  falls  in  their  way,  may  really  be  said  to  make 
almost  everything  out  of  bamboo.  We  have  mentioned 
hut  a few  of  the  articles  of  furniture,  shipping,  etc.,  to 
which  this  gigantic  cane  is  applied ; to  name  them  all 
would  fill  pages. 

The  most  valuable  of  all  the  uses  of  bamboo  is  to  make 
the  paper  of  which  their  books  are  composed.  Among 
a p>eople  so  addicted  to  reading  and  writing,  the  manu- 
facture of  paper  must  necessarily  be  carried  on  to  an  im- 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  85 

mense  extent,  and  this  is  much  increased  by  the  annual 
consumption  of  it  in  their  sacrifices.  The  paper  used 
for  printing  books,  beiug  thin  and  transparent,  is  only 
impressed  on  one  side,  and  folded,  so  that  every  leaf  is 
double,  with  the  edge  uncut.  Books  are  not  bound, 
like  ours ; but  every  work  is  divided  into  a number  of 
separate  parts,  with  strong  paper  covers.  The  parts  in 
this  shape  are  placed  all  together,  loosely,  in  a square  case 
or  envelope — a plan  that  seems  to  have  been  adopted  for 
the  purpose  of  avoiding  the  inconvenience  of  holding  a 
thick  volume  in  the  hand. 

Books  are  very  cheap,  for  there  is  no  duty  on  paper ; 
and  the  wages  of  printers,  as  of  all  other  workmen,  are 
very  small.  There  are  a great  many  booksellers  in  all 
the  principal  towns.  The  books  are  almost  wholly 
those  of  the  native  authors.  The  most  ancient  are  those 
most  valued.  Then,  say  they,  men  were  more  pure, 
more  honest  and  more  wise.  The  most  valuable  are 
those  of  a historical  character.  But  multitudes  are  seen 
in  the  shops  on  medicine,  agriculture,  the  language, 
religion  and  poetical  subjects;  novels  are  very  abundant, 
and  theatrical  plays,  which  are,  some  of  them,  well  writ- 
ten and  interesting. 

Printing  is  executed  very  cheaply  on  wood,  hardened 
wax  or  metal.  The  most  common  method  is  by  means 
of  wooden  blocks,  which  are  prepared  thus : The  copy  is 
written  on  very  thin  paper,  and  pasted  on  plain  blocks, 
from  which  all  the  blank  parts  are  neatly  cut  away,  and 
as  the  letters  are  left  raised  on  the  surface,  they  are,  of 
course,  an  exact  representation  of  the  manuscript,  which 
should,  therefore,  be  very  carefully  written.  Movable 
types  have  been  used  at  Peking,  but  they  are  expensive. 


86 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


In  the  process  of  printing  the  Chinese  employ  no 
press ; nor  would  it  facilitate  their  operations  while  they 
continue  to  print  on  paper  of  so  delicate  a texture  that 
-any  hard  pressure  would  be  likely  to  break  through  it. 
The  printer  works  with  two  brushes ; having  inked  the 
characters  with  one  brush,  he  lays  on  his  paper,  and 
runs  the  other  over  it,  which  makes  the  impression ; and 
this  is  done  so  quickly  that  a good  workman  can  take 
off  two  thousand  copies  in  a day. 

There  are  other  members  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 
which  deserve  particular  mention  as  affording  materials 
for  the  industry  of  the  people.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  is  the  tallow  tree.  This  has  some  resem- 
blance to  the  aspen  and  birch,  the  branches  being  long 
and  flexible,  with  leaves  of  a very  dark  green,  which, 
in  autumn,  turn  red,  with  a purple  tint.  The  fruit,  or 
rather  seed,  is  contained  in  brown  pods,  which  grow  in 
bunches  at  the  extremity  of  each  bough,  and  on  opening 
disclose  three  small  white  berries,  which  hang  very 
prettily  by  their  slender  strings  when  the  husk  has  com- 
pletely fallen  off.  These  have  each  a small  nut  in  the 
middle,  but  the  white  coating  is  the  tallow,  of  which 
candles  are  made ; and  thus  the  Chinese,  who  from  local 
circumstances  kill  but  few  animals  as  compared  with  the 
number  killed  in  America,  are  furnished  with  a vege- 
table substance  which  supplies  the  deficiency  of  the 
material  used  here  for  the  manufacture  of  candles.  This, 
in  fact,  is  a very  important  branch  of  Chinese  industry, 
as  it  is  not  alone  for  domestic  purposes  that  lights  are 
required,  but  all  the  temples  have  to  be  supplied  with 
those  great  candles  that  are  set  up  at  the  festivals  before 
the  images. 


GEOGRAPHY,  VEGETABLE  PRODUCTIONS,  ANIMALS.  87 

The  camphor  tree  grows  to  a great  height,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  useful  timber  trees  in  the  empire,  as  it  does 
not  split  and  is  never  destroyed  by  insects.  It  is  chiefly 
used  for  chests  and  household  furniture,  and  sometimes 
in  boat-building.  The  luxuriant  foliage  of  this  fine  tree 
is  of  the  brightest  green,  and  from  the  fresh-gathered 
branches  is  obtained  the  resinous  gum  which  we  call 
camphor,  and  with  which  the  wood  is  highly  scented. 

Another  branch  of  industry,  which  has  never  been 
imitated  with  success  in  this  part  of  the  world,  is  that 
of  making  the  lacker,  or  japanned  material  that  we  often 
see  in  the  shape  of  folding-screens,  cabinets,  tea-trays, 
boxes  and  ornamental  tables,  so  brilliantly  adorned  with 
paintings  and  gildings  in  that  peculiar  style  which  is  at 
once  recognized  as  Chinese.  In  some  branches  of  this 
art,  however,  the  people  of  China  yield  the  palm  to  those 
of  Japan,  from  whom  it  derives  its  name;  and  costly 
screens  and  cabinets  are  seen  in  the  houses  of  Chinese 
gentlemen,  the  work  of  the  Japanese,  who  send  them  to 
China.  The  varnish  used  for  japanning  them  is  the  gum 
which  oozes  from  a small  tree,  a species  of  sumac  which 
grows  both  in  China  and  Japan.  The  excellence  of  the 
art  consists  in  laying  on  the  varnish  perfectly  smooth, 
which  is  a tedious  and  difficult  process,  as  many  coatings 
are  required,  and  each  must  be  spread  with  the  same 
nicety.  The  varnish  will  take  any  color  without  losing 
its  brilliancy,  so  that  all  the  painting  is  executed  upon 
the  japanned  surface ; and  although  the  Chinese  have  no 
high  or  pure  art,  we  cannot  refuse  to  give  them  credit 
for  their  skill  in  the  execution  of  the  ornamental 
designs. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


social  life;  amusements;  popular  festivals;  the 

GOVERNMENT. 

rPHE  habits  of  social  life  in  China  are  peculiar,  al- 
though  not  destitute  of  refinement.  It  is  not  the 
difference  between  civilization  and  barbarism  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  Chinese  of  the  present  age  from  their 
contemporaries,  but  it  is  the  more  remarkable  dissim- 
ilarity between  ancient  and  modern  and  Eastern  and 
Western  civilization  which  marks  them  as  a nation  be- 
longing to  other  times  and  other  climes. 

To  speak  of  the  Chinese  as  a rude  or  uninformed 
race  would  be  quite  as  erroneous  as  to  style  them  a 
highly-civilized  people — a term  that  can  only  be  applied 
with  propriety  to  those  who  are  enlightened  by  modern 
science,  which  in  China  has  hitherto  made  no  progress. 
The  refinement  of  the  Chinese  consists  in  the  elegance 
and  luxury  with  which  the  higher  and  richer  classes  are 
surrounded  in  their  own  houses,  and  that  strict  attention 
to  the  forms  of  good-breeding  which  prevails  generally 
through  all  the  grades  of  private  life.  Politeness  is  an 
indispensable  accomplishment,  and  the  rules  of  etiquette 
are  studied,  in  all  the  schools  of  China  as  regularly  as 
grammar  in  those  of  the  West.  A knowledge  of  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  to  be  observed  both  at  home  and 


88 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


89 


abroad,  in  the  drawing-room  of  a friend  as  well  as  at 
the  court  of  the  emperor,  is  essential  to  every  one  who 
studies  with  a view  of  taking  degrees,  as  he  knows  not 
to  what  rank  he  may  he  called,  and  ought  to  be  pre- 
pared to  conduct  himself  with  propriety  in  different 
grades  of  life,  from  the  station  of  the  petty  officer  of  an 
obscure  village  to  that  of  the  chief  ko-lau,  or  minister  of 
state.  It  must  be  understood  that  to  conduct  himself 
with  propriety  does  not  altogether  refer  to  his  integrity 
in  office  or  his  moral  character — to  both  of  which,  how- 
ever, his  most  careful  attention  is  requisite — but  he  must 
know  how  many  bows  to  make  to  his  visitors;  what 
compliments  to  address  to  them  according  to  their  rank; 
whether,  at  their  departure,  he  should  attend  them  as 
far  as  the  door  or  only  so  many  paces  toward  it ; and 
other  minute  observances,  too  numerous  to  mention, 
must  be  studied  and  practiced.  These  trivial  ceremonies 
impart  a dullness  and  formality  to  Chinese  society  which 
are  found  tedious  by  most  Americans,  whose  easy,  un- 
studied manners  would  be  thought  quite  barbarous 
among  the  well-bred  of  the  Celestial  Empire. 

Yet  there  is  withal  a great  deal  of  genuine  courtesy 
in  the  intercourse  of  the  better  classes,  and  a true  refine- 
ment, which  can  only  come  from  the  cultivation  of  the 
purer  and  better  sentiments  of  our  nature.  The  degree 
of  this  existing  in  circles  to  which  some  of  our  officers, 
merchants  and  missionaries  have  been  admitted  has  often 
surprised  them.  It  is  confessed  that  men  like  Keying 
and  Howqua  would  be  considered  gentlemen  in  the  best 
society  of  any  country.  The  manners  of  the  ladies  are 
often  polished  and  agreeable. 

The  houses  of  the  wealthy  are  built,  like  those  of  most 


90 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


other  Oriental  nations,  within  a court,  surrounded  by  a 
wall,  consequently  they  are  not  visible  to  the  passers-by  ; 
but  those  of  government  officers  are  always  known  by 
two  red  poles  which  .are  set  up  before  the  gate.  The 
handsomest  dwellings  are  those  which  consist  of  a num- 
ber of  separate  buildings,  or  ranges  of  apartments,  all 
on  the  ground  floor.  The  principal  entrance  is  three- 
fold— namely,  by  a large  folding-door  in  the  centre,  and 
a smaller  one  on  each  side,  at  which  hang  two  handsome 
lanterns,  inscribed  with  the  name  and  titles  of  the  mas- 
ter of  the  house.  This  entrance  leads  to  the  saloon, 
where  visitors  are  received,  which  is  usually  the  first 
of  a suite  that  may  be  called  the  state-apartments,  since 
they  are  chiefly  used  for  the  reception  and  entertain- 
ment of  distinguished  guests.  They  are  elegantly  and 
commodiously  furnished ; for  the  Chinese  are  not  de- 
ficient in  taste,  nor  do  they  spare  expense  in  their  inte- 
rior decorations  of  their  houses,  which  are  often  fitted 
up  in  a very  costly  style.  The  walls  of  the  best  rooms 
are  generally  adorned  in  different  parts  with  scrolls  of 
silk  or  paper-hangings  from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor,  on 
which  are  written  or  painted,  in  large  characters, 
maxims  and  moral  sentences  extracted  from  the  works 
of  the  ancient  sages,  which  are  considered  far  more 
ornamental  than  the  finest  paintings.  Many  of  these 
sentences  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon.  Their  chairs — which,  it  may  he  remarked, 
are  articles  of  furniture  not  used  by  the  natives  of  other 
parts  of  Asia,  and  indicate  the  more  dignified  manners 
of  the  Chinese  as  compared  with  other  Asiatics — are 
rather  clumsy  and  heavy  in  appearance,  but  they  are 
made  of  a beautiful  dark  brown  wood  which  grows  in 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


91 


China,  and  is  not  unlike  rosewood.  They  are  all  made 
with  arms,  and  sometimes  are  furnished  with  silk  or 
satin  cushions  and  hangings  for  the  back,  embroidered 
by  the  ladies  of  the  family,  who  devote  a great  portion 
of  their  time  to  needlework.  Japanned  cabinets  and 
tables,  with  a profusion  of  porcelain  jars  and  other 
ornaments,  are  always  seen  in  a Chinese  drawing-room ; 
but  none  of  these  are  so  striking  or  so  characteristic  as 
the  lanterns,  suspended  by  silken  cords  from  the  ceiling 
and  ornamented  with  a variety  of  elegant  designs. 

In  any  civilized  part  of  the  world  we  may  find  Indian 
cabinets  and  porcelain  vases,  but  the  lanterns  are  exclu- 
sively Chinese,  and  are  very  showy  specimens  of  the 
national  taste  and  ingenuity.  They  are  made  in  every 
form  that  fancy  can  invent  and  of  all  sizes — from  the 
small  ones  carried  by  pedestrians  at  night  to  those  that 
illumine  the  halls  of  the  great ; the  latter  being  some- 
times eight  or  ten  feet  in  height  and  three  feet  in  diame- 
ter. The  most  costly  are  composed  of  transparent  silk, 
adorned  with  landscapes,  birds,  flowers  and  fanciful 
devices  in  colors  of  dazzling  brightness ; the  framework 
being  richly  carved  and  gilt,  and  the  cords  and  tassels 
by  which  they  are  suspended  made  of  silk  and  gold 
thread.  The  possession  of  fine  lanterns  is  a sort  of  pas- 
sion among  the  Chinese,  many  of  whom  spend  consider- 
able sums  in  the  gratification  of  this  fancy. 

The  real  condition  of  ladies  in  China,  and  the  position 
they  hold  in  society,  are  not  yet  very  accurately  known. 
They  are  seldom  seen  in  the  streets,  it  is  true,  but  that 
is  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  their  inability  to  walk 
with  ease ; and  as  they  do  sometimes  appear  abroad,  and 
are  often  observed  at  the  windows,  without  making  any 


92 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


attempt  to  conceal  their  faces  from  the  gaze  of  strangers, 
it  is  evident  they  enjoy  far  more  liberty  than  the  Turkish 
ladies,  although  it  is  not  the  custom  for  the  sexes  to  mix 
together  in  general  society.  When  a mandarin  gives  a 
grand  entertainment,  his  wife  frequently  invites  her 
friends  to  witness  the  theatrical  performances  and  vari- 
ous amusing  exhibitions  that  are  going  forward  during 
the  dinner.  These  they  can  see,  without  being  seen, 
from  a latticed  gallery  provided  for  that  purpose ; and 
thus  they  are  not  entirely  debarred  from  the  enjoyment 
of  the  festivities,  although  they  do  not  mingle  with  the 
guests. 

But  we  must  consider  the  sex  degraded  wherever  the 
system  of  polygamy  prevails,  and  wherever  (as  in  China 
and  all  these  Eastern  countries)  men  add  to  the  number 
of  their  wives  according  to  their  wealth  and  rank. 
Another  source  of  humiliation  should  seem  to  be  the 
common  practice  of  buying  and  selling  women.  All 
classes  of  Chinese  present  some  equivalent  to  the  pa- 
rents or  guardians  of  the  women  they  marry.  A family 
of  handsome  daughters,  particularly  if  well  trained  in 
ceremonials  and  Chinese  accomplishments,  are 'often  a 
source  of  great  profit  to  their  parents. 

The  dress  of  a Chinese  lady  is  not  different  from  that 
worn  in  ancient  times : it  consists  of  a short  loose  robe, 
confined  round  the  throat  with  a narrow  collar.  The 
robe  is  worn  over  a long,  full  skirt,  and  both  are  fre- 
quently made  of  richly-embroidered  silks.  The  sleeves 
are  wide,  and  sufficiently  long  to  fall  over  the  hands ; 
and  the  hair  is  gathered  up  in  a knot  at  the  top  of  the 
head,  and  is  fastened  with  golden  bodkins  and  adorned 
with  flowers.  They  all  wear  trowsers;  and  their  tiny 


‘0$  pj  1 iW'K  v a 

e\  '•  1 : 
r ■ y<-Ba^.u  ; . x <fifc  * vh^«  * ’ | dj! 

SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


93 


shoes  are  of  satin,  silk  or  velvet,  beautifully  worked 
with  gold,  silver  and  colored  silks,  the  soles  being 
formed  of  layers  of  paper,  from  one  to  two  inches  in 
thickness,  and  covered  outside  with  white  leather  made 
from  pigskin.  The  little  girls  are  very  becomingly 
attired  in  short  dresses,  reaching  to  the  throat  and 
worn  over  the  full  trowsers.  The  hair,  which  is  combed 
from  the  forehead,  hangs  down  on  each  side,  and  the 
black  hair  is  plaited  into  one  or  two  long  tails ; in  which 
style  it  remains  until  the  young  lady  is  about  to  become 
a bride,  when  the  more  matronly  fashion  is  adopted,  and 
the  braids  and  curls  are  formed  into  a knot,  intermixed 
with  flowers  and  jewels. 

A gentleman  usually  wears  in  the  house  a loose  robe 
of  silk,  cloth,  or,  in  summer,  of  some  lighter  material, 
with  a cap  also  suited  to  the  season.  If  he  be  a man- 
darin, a ball  is  worn  on  the  top  of  the  cap  to  designate 
the  class  to  which  he  belongs.  The  summer  cap  is  as 
light  as  chip,  to  which  it  bears  a resemblance.  It  is 
made  of  bamboo,  in  the  shapd  of  a cone ; and  if  the 
wearer  be  a government  officer,  has  attached  to  the  ball 
a crimson  silk  ornament,  which  hangs  like  a fringe. 
The  winter  head-dress  is  of  satin,  with  a wide  brim  of 
black  velvet  turned  up  all  around,  and  the  usual  adorn- 
ments of  ball  and  fringe  at  the  top.  A mandarin  of  the 
first  rank  is  known  by  a red  ball  on  his  cap ; a trans- 
parent blue  one  denotes  the  second  class ; and  the  other 
grades  are  distinguished  by  white,  opaque  blue,  crystal, 
gilt  and  other  balls. 

A Chinese  is  not  at  liberty  to  wear  his  summer  or  his 
winter  cap  when  he  pleases,  but  is  obliged  to  wait  for  the 
time  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Rites  for  making  the 


94 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


alterations  in  his  head-gear.  The  announcement  is  made 
in  the  Gazette,  when  the  viceroy  of  the  province  lays  aside 
the  cap  he  has  been  wearing  for  the  previous  six  months 
to  adopt  that  of  the  approaching  season,  and  the  example 
is  immediately  followed  by  all  other  mandarins  and  officers 
within  his  government.  It  is  very  usual  to  wear  at  home 
a cap  of  silk  or  velvet,  fitting  closely  to  the  head.  Furs 
are  very  much  used  in  the  winter  costume,  for  as  the  Chi- 
nese have  no  fires  in  their  apartments,  they  wear  a great 
quantity  of  warm  clothing,  putting  on  one  garment  over 
another  until  they  are  sufficiently  protected  from  the 
cold.  Dress  boots  are  of  velvet  or  satin,  with  the  uni- 
versal thick  white  soles ; and  a fan,  in  an  embroidered 
case  hanging  from  the  girdle,  is  as  indispensable  a part 
of  the  costume  of  a Chinese  gentleman  as  his  cap  or 
gown. 

Visiting  in  China  is  conducted  in  a manner  which  is 
very  formal  according  to  our  notions.  A gentleman  in 
making  a morning  call  does  not  alight  from  his  chair 
until  he  has  sent  in  his  visiting  card,  that  the  master  of 
the  house  may  give  him  a proper  reception  according  to 
his  rank,  as  it  is  the  etiquette  to  hurry  to  the  door,  in 
some  cases,  to  receive  a guest,  while  in  others  it  is  only 
necessary  to  meet  him  in  the  middle  of  the  room  ; and  in 
the  former  case  the  bowings  are  lower  and  more  numer- 
ous than  in  the  latter.  The  law  lias  decided  that  the 
superior  shall  take  precedence  in  entering  the  room,  yet 
it  is  considered  polite  to  make  a pretence  of  refusing  to 
go  in  first,  and  a few  unmeaning  compliments  always 
pass  on  the  occasion,  both  parties  knowing  very  well 
which  of  them  is  to  take  the  lead.  It  is  not  the  custom 
in  China  to  uncover  the  head  unless  invited  so  to  do ; 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


95 


in  warm  weather,  therefore,  a gentleman  usually  says  to 
his  friend,  “ Pray  put  off  your  cap !”  and  it  would  be  a 
mark  of  ill  manners  to  omit  this  compliment. 

Tea  is  always  offered  to  a morning  visitor,  and  is 
usually  accompanied  with  sweetmeats  and  pipes,  for  the 
Chinese  are  fond  of  smoking,  and  every  gentleman  wears 
an  embroidered  tobacco-pouch  at  his  girdle.  It  is  not 
exactly  certain  when  tobacco  was  first  introduced  into 
China,  but  it  is  supposed  that  it  found  its  way  there  soon 
after  the  discovery  of  America,  as  the  Chinese  were  in 
the  habit  of  smoking  before  the  time  of  the  Manchu- 
Tartar  conquest,  although  there  is  no  mention  of  such  a 
custom  prior  to  the  sixteenth  century.  Smoking  is  not 
confined  to  the  male  sex  nor  to  the  lower  class  of  females, 
but  even  a Chinese  lady  may  have  her  richly-ornamented 
pipe,  which  would  really  be  an  elegant  appendage  if  it 
did  not  involve  so  unfeminine  an  indulgence.  It  has  be- 
come quite  common  for  men,  and  even  women,  to  intox- 
icate themselves  by  smoking  opium.  The  usual  em- 
ployments among  wealthy  Chinese  ladies  are — working 
embroidery,  playing  on  different  musical  instruments  and 
painting  on  silk  and  rice  paper.  Yet  some  ladies  are  well 
educated,  and  there  are  families  where  private  tutors  are 
employed,-  and  the  girls  are  allowed  to  participate,  to  a 
certain  extent,  in  the  studies  of  their  brothers. 

The  lower  orders  in  the  towns — men,  women  and  chil- 
dren— all  wear  loose  gowns  of  nanking  cloth,  usually 
dyed  blue,  without  collars.  The  laboring  men  in  the 
country  work  in  large  cotton  trowsers,  with  or  without  a 
gown  over  them,  and  a broad  bamboo  hat,  which  answers 
the  purpose  of  an  umbrella  to  shield  them  from  the  sun 
and  rain.  But  the  most  extraordinary  article  of  apparel 


96 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


worn  by  the  Chinese  laborer  is  a cloak  made  of  long, 
narrow  leaves,  which  has  a very  rough,  unsightly  ap- 
pearance, but  is  extremely  useful  in  wet  weather,  either 
in  the  fields  or  in  the  boats. 

The  river  population  of  Canton  forms  a very  large 
portion  of  the  community,  and  is  considered  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  city  to  be  a distinct  and  inferior  race.  Until 
the  time  of  Kien-lung  these  people  were  not  permitted 
to  intermarry  with  the  people  on  shore ; but  that  en- 
lightened sovereign  removed  the  restriction,  and  those 
wTho  live  on  the  water  now  enjoy  equal  privileges  with 
those  who  have  their  dwellings  on  land,  and  a boatman 
may  take  to  wife  a village  lass  without  incurring  any 
penalty.  Some  of  the  poor  people  who  emigrate  to 
neighboring  counties  often  take  their  wives  with  them, 
notwithstanding  the  laws  that  so  strictly  prohibit  women 
from  leaving  China ; but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  laws 
against  emigration  are  altogether  very  much  relaxed, 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  government  may  pur- 
posely refrain  from  being  very  vigilant  in  seeing  them 
enforced. 

It  is  rather  curious  that,  among  the  personal  decora- 
tions of  the  Chinese,  there  is  not  one  they  prize  more 
highly,  or  on  which  they  bestow  more  attention,  than 
the  plaited  queue,  which,  at  first,  was  detested  as  a dis- 
graceful badge  of  dependence,  and  is  still  a sign  of  their 
subjection  to  the  Tartar  rule.  The  beauty  of  the  queue 
consists  in  its  length  and  thickness,  and  many  who  have 
not  hair  enough  to  make  a handsome  braid  supply  the 
deficiency  with  false  hair  and  silk ; but  whatever  pains 
and  cost  a man  may  bestow  upon  improving  his  appear- 
ance by  the  aid  of  art,  he  can  have  no  pretensions  to 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


97 


personal  attraction  unless  liis  figure  indicate  that  he  has 
not  been  kept  upon  spare  diet. 

The  tables  of  the  -wealthy  are  supplied  with  a great 
variety  of  rich  dishes,  among  which  is  a soup  that  sup- 
plies the  place  of  our  turtle.  It  is  made  of  the  nests  of 
birds,  the  trade  in  which  is  a government  monopoly. 
These  nests  are  principally  brought  from  Java,  Sumatra 
and  the  coasts  of  Malacca ; they  are  obtained  among  the 
rocks  with  difficulty  by  men  let  down  from  their  summits 
by  a rope.  They  consist  of  a delicate  sea-moss  gathered 
from  the  surface  of  the  waves  by  a species  of  swallow, 
and  formed  into  nests  among  the  precipitous  cliffs. 
They  are  best  when  taken  before  they  have  been  soiled 
by  the  bird.  After  having  been  properly  cleansed,  they 
are  packed  in  boxes  and  sent  to  Canton,  where  they  are 
often  worth  more  than  their  weight  in  silver.  Sharks’ 
fins  are  esteemed  a great  luxury.  There  appears  to  be 
scarcely  an  end  to  the  number  and  variety  of  the  culin- 
ary preparations  of  these  people ; . but  of  all  their  dishes 
there  are  very  few  that  are  palatable  to  an  American 
stomach. 

The  Chinese  take  wine  with  each  other,  and  when 
they  have  done  so,  turn  the  cup  upside  down,  to  show 
that  they  have  emptied  its  contents,  this  being  a point 
of  good-breeding.  The  wine,  which  is  a liquor  ex- 
tracted from  rice,  is  taken  hot,  and  at  the  tables  of  the  rich 
is  poured  into  the  cups  from  a silver  vessel  like  a coffee- 
pot. The  dinner-service  consists  of  porcelain  bowls  of 
various  sizes,  with  plates  shaped  like  saucers,  and  some- 
times a few  silver  dishes.  Instead  of  knives  and  forks, 
they  use  what  are  termed  chopsticks,  which  are  small 
round  sticks  of  ivory  or  ebony;  but  they  have  also 

7 


98 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


spoons  of  ebony,  and  silver  ladles  for  tlie  soups.  The 
dinner  is  preceded  by  fruits  and  confectionery.  After  it 
the  company  usually  adjourn  to  another  room  to  take 
tea  and  amuse  themselves,  but  the  foreigners  are  never 
gratified  by  the  company  of  the  ladies. 

The  shopkeepers  of  China,  and  those  whose  appetites 
are  not  stimulated  by  bodily  labor,  usually  take  only  two 
meals  in  the  dav — one  between  eight  and  ten  in  the 
morning,  the  other  between  four  and  six  in  the  after- 
noon. Their  usual  fare  is  rice  and  vegetables,  with  a 
little  pork  or  fish ; their  ordinary  drink  is  tea,  but  they 
sometimes  indulge  in  samshu,  a spiritous  liquor  distilled 
from  rice. 

Flour  of  rice  or  wheat  is  chiefly  employed  in  making 
pastry  and  flat,  unleavened  cakes,  the  latter  constituting 
the  only  bread  which  is  known  in  China.  The  ovens, 
or  rather  baking-machines,  consist  of  a flat  plate  of  iron, 
suspended  by  chains  from  a beam  over  a copper  filled 
with  burning  charcoal.  The  cakes  are  placed  on  the 
iron  plate,  which  can  be  raised  or  depressed  at  pleasure 
by  means  of  the  chains ; and  as  this  is  the  only  mode 
of  baking  among  the  Chinese,  their  bread  is  necessarily 
made  in  the  form  of  cakes,  and  is  eaten  only  as  a dainty. 
The  process  of  cooking  is  carried  on  over  charcoal  fires ; 
and  as  there  are  no  chimneys  to  any  of  the  houses,  a 
part  of  the  brick-work  above  the  fire  in  their  kitchens, 
or  cooking-places,  is  left  open  to  suffer  the  vapor  to 
escape.  There  are  plenty  of  eating-houses,  both  for  rich 
and  poor — those  for  the  latter  being  open  sheds,  where 
they  can  procure  a hot  breakfast  or  dinner  at  any  hour 
of  the  day  for  a very  trifling  sum.  The  superior  sort 
are  fine,  handsome  hotels,  where  gentlemen  of  the 


/.  Tortoise  shell 
( hojtstref,'  rase, 
‘t  6‘.  Chopsti/ks. 
3.  Toothpick*. 

4 if-  X.  Ifni  res. 


,J.  Tdttrgr  C/to/tstick,  rase 

with  slid  ins/  top  and  bottom . 
7.  Chinese  Cork. 

//  Soup  Spoon. 

JO.  0 inn ’trefoil  saucer  for  soy. 


3 out  Kim,,  V&IjA.  4-.C?  Hartfb-d.  C/”v 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


99 


higher  classes  can  dine  when  their  families  are  out  of 
town. 

The  traveler  and  botanist,  Mr.  Robert  Fortune,  has 
given  us  a description  of  a road-side  inn  in  the  provinces, 
that  will  convey  a good  idea  of  such  places,  which  have 
their  counterparts  in  some  of  the  Chinese  restaurants  of 
California.  The  first  use  of  the  “company-houses” 
there  is  to  be  a sort  of  general  inn  for  the  people  from 
the  same  neighborhood  in  their  own  country.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  gentleman  named  was  travel- 
ing in  disguise  and  passing  for  a Chinese  : 

“The  inn  was  a large  and  commodious  building, 
extending  backward  from  the  main  street  of  the  town. 
Its  front  was  composed  of  a number  of  boards  or  shut- 
ters, which  could  be  removed  at  pleasure.  The  whole 
of  these  were  taken  down  in  the  morning  and  put  up 
again  at  night.  The  floor  of  the  building  was  divided 
into  three  principal  compartments,  the  first  facing  the 
street,  the  second  being  behind  it,  and  the  third  at  the 
farthest  end.  Some  small  rooms  which  were  formed  on 
each  side  were  the  bed-rooms. 

“ Coolies  and  chair-bearers  crowded  that  part  of  the 
building  next  to  the  street,  in  which  they  had  their 
meals  and  smoked  their  pipes.  The  second  and  third 
divisions  were  destined  for  travelers,  but  as  there  were 
large  doors  between  each,  which  stood  wide  open,  it  was 
easy  to  see  through  from  the  front  to  the  back  part  of 
the  premises. 

“ When  I got  out  of  my  chair,  I followed  ‘ mine  host  ’ 
into  the  second  compartment,  in  which  I observed  a 
table  at  each  side  of  the  room.  One  of  them  being  un- 
occupied,  I sat  down  at  it,  and  with  becoming  gravity 


100 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


lighted  my  Chinese  pipe  and  began  to  smoke.  The  host 
set  a cup  of  tea  before  me,  and  left  me  to  attend  upon 
some  one  else.  I had  now  leisure  to  take  a survey  of 
the  strange  scene  around  me.  At  the  opposite  table  sat 
two  merchants,  who,  a single  glance  told  me,  were  from 
the  province  of  Canton.  They  were  evidently  eyeing 
me  with  great  interest,  and  doubtless  knew  me  to  be  a 
foreigner  the  moment  I entered  the  room.  One  of  them 
I had  frequently  seen  at  Shanghai.  This  person  looked 
as  if  he  wished  me  to  recognize  him,  but  in  this  he  was 
disappointed,  for  I returned  his  inquiring  look  as  if  I 
had  never  seen  him  before.  I now  observed  him  whis- 
pering to  his  companion,  and  thought  I heard  the  word 
‘Fankwai’  used.  In  the  mean  time,  Sing-liu,  who  had 
just  arrived,  came  in,  and  began  to  bustle  about  and  get 
in  the  dinner,  which  was  soon  ready.  The  host  was  a 
civil  sort  of  man,  but  very  inquisitive,  and  as  he  set 
down  the  dinner  he  put  various  questions  to  me.  With 
Chinese  politeness  he  asked  me  my  name,  my  age,  where 
I had  come  from  and  whither  I was  bound ; and  to  all 
such  questions  he  received  satisfactory  answers.  The 
Canton  merchants  were  all  eyes  and  ears  while  this 
conversation  was  going  on,  and  one  of  them  quietly 
prompted  the  innkeeper  to  ask  a few  more  questions. 
These  gentlemen  wanted  to  know  the  starting-point  of 
my  journey,  the  particular  part  of  Fukien  to  which  I 
was  bound,  and  the  objects  I had  in  view.  As  I could 
not  see  that  answers  to  these  questions  concerned  them 
very  much,  or  could  be  of  any  use,  I judged  it  better  to 
keep  them  in  the  dark. 

“ Several  dishes  being  now  set  before  me,  and  a cup 
of  wine  poured  out  by  the  host,  I took  a sip  of  it,  and, 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


101 


taking  up  my  chopsticks,  went  on  with  my  dinner. 
Having  had  great  experience  in  the  use  of  chopsticks,  I 
could  handle  them  now  nearly  as  well  as  the  Chinese 
themselves;  and  as  I had  been  accustomed  to  all  the 
formalities  of  a Chinese  dinner,  I went  on  with  the  most 
perfect  confidence. 

“ When  I had  finished  dinner,  a wooden  basin,  con- 
taining warm  water  and  a wet  cloth,  was  placed  before 
me,  in  order  that  I might  wash  my  hands  and  face. 
Wringing  the  wet  cloth,  I rubbed  my  face,  neck  and 
hands  well  over  with  it,  in  Chinese  style.  Having  fin- 
ished my  ablution,  I returned  again  to  the  table.  The 
dinner  and  dishes  having  in  the  mean  time  been  removed, 
tea  was  again  set  before  me. 

“ The  Canton  men  still  remained  at  the  opposite  table, 
but  the  greater  part  of  the  others  who,  at  their  instiga- 
tion, had  been  taking  sly  peeps  at  me,  had  gone  away. 
I suppose  when  they  saw  that  I ate  and  drank  just  like 
the  rest,  they  must  have  felt  some  little  surprise,  and  had 
their  original  opinion  strengthened — namely,  that,  after 
all,  I was  only  one  of  themselves. 

“ My  chair-bearers  having  dined  as  well  as  myself, 
they  sent  a message  by  Sing-hu  to  say  that  they  were 
ready  to  proceed.  Making  a slight  bow  to  mine  host, 
and  a slighter  one  to  the  Canton  gentlemen  in  Chinese 
style,  I got  into  my  chair  and  went  my  way.” 

Gambling  with  cards,  dice,  dominoes  and  other  con- 
trivances, and  gambling  by  betting,  are  excessively 
prevalent.  The  populace  bet  upon  anything,  from  two 
crickets  in  a basin  to  fighting  quails  and  a combat  of 
gamecocks.  This  is  one  of  the  great  national  vices. 
From  childhood  to  old  age  they  never  get  rid  of  the 


102 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


propensity.  Some  of  the  games  played  by  the  wealthier 
classes  indoors  appear  to  be  childish ; they,  however, 
play  at  draughts  and  have  a sort  of  chess. 

Among  the  outdoor  amusements  of  the  commonalty, 
that  of  kite-flying  is  carried  to  a degree  of  perfection 
unseen  in  any  other  country.  The  kites  are  made  in  a 
variety  of  forms,  as  of  birds,  butterflies  or  fishes,  and 
the  flyers  often  try  their  skill  in  bringing  down  each 
other’s  kites,  in  imitation  of  hawking.  Football  is  a 
favorite  pastime,  and  a game  called  jang,  which  is  of 
very  ancient  date,  and  is  played  with  two  wooden  toys 
in  the  form  of  a pair  of  shoes,  one  of  which  is  placed 
on  the  ground  and  its  fellow  thrown  from  a distance,  the 
object  being  to  insert  one  within  the  other,  and  he  who 
succeeds  in  doing  so  is  the  winner. 

Our  child’s  game  of  battledore-and-shuttlecock  is 
very  prevalent,  and  is  played  by  grown-up  people  as 
well  as  by  children.  There  is,  however,  this  difference — 
the  Chinese  do  not  play  with  their  hands,  but  with  their 
feet,  and  their  battledores  are  the  broad  soles  of  their 
shoes,  with  the  sides  of  which  they  adroitly  strike  the 
shuttlecock  as  it  approaches  the  ground.  The  game 
thus  played  is  still  more  common  among  the  Siamese, 
whose  dexterity  at  it  is  said  to  be  surprising. 

But  the  great  amusement  of  the  people  of  all  ranks 
and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  is  the  theatre.  A lively 
American  writer  has  given  us  some  very  amusing  notes 
on  this  subject,  which  are  the  more  suitable  to  quote 
since  some  of  the  theatrical  companies  have  crossed 
the  ocean  to  the  New  World  : 

“ The  actors  are  formed  into  strolling  companies,  and 
travel  all  over  China.  They  perform  their  parts  ad- 


I 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


103 


mirably  and  excel  in  pantomime.  The  Hong  mer- 
chants sometimes  engage  a company  for  several  days, 
and  throw  open  their  hongs  to  the  foreigners  as  well  as 
the  rabble.  I accepted  an  invitation  to  attend  one  of 
these  exhibitions,  and  the  tea  merchant  at  whose  estab- 
lishment the  show  took  place  politely  expressed  his  de- 
sire that  all  should  come. 

“ Two  or  three  of  us  went  together  to  the  hong,  and 
were  ushered  into  an  apartment  in  the  second  story 
looking  out  upon  the  courtyard,  and  furnished  with 
seats  ascending  as  they  retreated,  so  that  the  hindmost 
spectators  could  see  as  well  as  those  in  front.  These 
benches,  with  the  exception  of  a few  reserved  seats,  were 
densely  occupied  by  the  respectable  and  well-dressed 
friends  of  the  hongist. 

“ We  were  politely  ushered  into  the  first  seats,  looking 
immediately  on  the  stage  opposite.  As  soon  as  we  were 
comfortably  seated  a boy  brought  to  us  very  nice  tea 
and  fans,  as  the  weather  was  warm.  Below  us,  in  the 
open  yard,  were  the  closely-packed  hundreds  admitted 
to  the  exhibition  without  charge,  but  obliged  to  stand, 
and  with  the  sun  beating  down  on  their  unprotected 
heads.  They  were  very  orderly  and  quiet,  however,  and 
watched  every  change  of  scene  with  intense  interest. 
The  stage  was  formed  of  bamboo  poles,  strongly  tied 
together,  and  the  floor  was  of  boards,  resting  on  the 
horizontal  reeds  and  covered  with  a carpet.  The  ceiling 
was  of  a piece  with  the  splendor  of  the  theatre,  and  com- 
posed of  rather  dingy  matting.  There  was  no  drop  or 
green  curtain,  no  footlights  or  scenery  of  any  descrip- 
tion, and  the  orchestra  was  behind  the  performers. 
There  was  a retiring-room  at  the  back  of  the  stage, 


104 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


whither  tlie  actors  resorted  to  change  their  dresses.  The 
beauty  of  the  establishment  was  much  improved  by  a 
number  of  half-naked  coolies,  who  had  climbed  up  the 
bamboo  poles  to  have  a better  view  of  the  scene,  where 
they  clung  like  apes ; and  one  or  two,  more  fortunate 
than  the  rest,  had  actually  managed  to  get  on  top  of  the 
frame,  and  sat  with  their  dusky  legs  dangling  through 
holes  in  the  matting.  The  performance  was  ludicrous, 
and  yet  very  good  in  its  way ; in  pantomine,  the  actors 
were  masters,  and  the  expressions  of  their  countenances 
admirably  suited  to  the  feelings  they  meant  to  express. 
The  dresses  were  truly  gorgeous ; it  is  in  costume,  not  in 
scenery,  that  great  sums  are  expended,  and  that  of  actors 
is  always  a representation  of  the  ancient  dresses  of  China 
before  the  Manchu-Tartar  conquest. 

“ They  were  of  the  richest  silks  and  satins,  stiff  with 
gold  thread  and  gay  embroidery,  and  well  j3ut  on. 

“ The  actors  screamed  and  bawled  at  the  top  of  their 
voices,  and  seemed  to  lash  themselves  into  the  most  furi- 
ous excitement.  There  was  a vast  deal  of  fighting,  and 
on  the  least  pretence  the  heroes  of  the  piece  drew  their 
swords  and  hacked  at  each  other  without  mercy ; and 
every  moment  the  orchestra  would  come  in  with  an 
awful  crash,  and  nearly  drive  one  frantic  by  the  din  of 
gongs,  the  squeak  of  stringed  instruments  and  the  shrill 
shrieks  of  fifes.  I soon  became  aware  that  I could  not 
appreciate  the  performance,  for  when  I laughed  at  the 
apparent  absurdities,  all  the  Chinese  looked  on  with 
breathless  interest ; and  sometimes,  during  a part  that  I 
considered  particularly  stupid,  I would  hear  loud  explo- 
sions of  delight,  and  a contagious  chuckle  would  animate 
the  whole  assembly. 


SOCIAL  LIFE ; AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


105 


“ There  were  no  women  to  be  seen,  either  as  spectators 
or  actors,  though  the  impersonation  of  feminine  character 
was  so  admirable,  and  the  dress  so  perfectly  worn,  that 
I came  away  at  first  under  the  belief  that  I had  seen 
females  acting.  Delicate-looking  lads  of  seventeen  or 
nineteen  are  selected  to  personate  the  softer  sex ; and 
when  the  dress  is  put  on,  the  false  head-gear  assumed, 
the  feet  squeezed  into  the  smallest  of  shoes,  and  the 
voice  mimics  the  high,  shrill  tones  of  womanhood,  the 
disguise  is  complete. 

“ The  faces  of  the  boys  are  painted,  as  is  usual  with 
the  females  in  China,  and  the  womanly  way  of  moving, 
talking,  and  even  thinking,  seems  to  be  adopted.  They 
make  love  in  the  most  natural  and  sentimental  manner, 
assume  airs  of  coquetery  and  raillery  with  equal  ease,  and 
play  the  belle  and  the  mother  much  better  than  nine- 
tenths  of  the  European  actresses.  There  was  no  inde- 
cency committed. 

“ To  the  bamboo  poles  in  front  are  attached  boards, 
with  the  name  of  the  play  represented  inscribed  on  them, 
and  these  are  changed  with  the  drama.  A play  will 
frequently  last  two  or  three  days ; the  one  I saw  occu- 
pied nearly  twelve  hours,  and  when  I returned  in  the 
afternoon  the  boards  were  unchanged,  and  the  same  old 
fellows  were  wrapped  up  in  the  story  that  I had  seen  all 
eyes  and  ears  in  the  morning. 

“ When  it  is  time  to  go  to  dinner,  the  orchestra  sud- 
denly ceases  to  emit  its  deafening  clangor,  the  actors  roll 
up  the  stage  carpet  and  adjourn  to  some  eating-house, 
and  the  audience  disperses  till  the  meal  is  over,  when  the 
actors  come  back  as  violent  as  ever.  The  crowd  will 
stand  patiently  for  hours  under  the  hot  sun  to  enjoy  a 


106 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


performance  which  depends  more  on  the  excellence  of 
the  actors  than  on  the  merits  of  the  play. 

“ The  actors  vary  their  exhibitions  by  gymnastic  ex- 
ercises, some  of  which  are  very  remarkable.  In  one  that 
I saw  a number  of  men  formed  a circle,  joining  hands, 
and  on  the  shoulders  of  these  stood  another  tier,  and  a 
third  group  of  three  or  four  persons  stood  on  the  top  of 
the  pyramid.  Those  beneath  then  commenced  dancing, 
and  finally  went  whirling  round  like  a top  until  they 
attained  a fearful  velocity.  I expected  to  see  some  of 
the  fellows  go  off  in  a tangent,  but  they  all  managed  to 
retain  their  hold,  those  above  jumping  and  kicking  as 
they  revolved. 

“ As  there  is  no  scenery,  of  course  the  audience  have 
to  imagine  it,  and  transport  the  players  in  their  fancy 
from  point  to  point ; but  the  actors  have  a very  cheap 
and  ingenious  method  of  locomotion.  If  they  wish  to 
mount  on  horseback,  they  bestride  a chair  and  crack  a 
whip ; and  if  the  hero  of  the  piece  desires  to  go  to  Pe- 
king he  skips  across  the  stage,  claps  his  hands,  bawls  with 
joy  and  informs  the  hearers  that  he  has  arrived.  The 
fashionable  world  at  once  believe  him,  and  go  to  court 
without  presentations.  There  are  hundreds  of  dramatic 
authors  in  China ; their  name  is  legion,  and  their  pro- 
ductions seem  to  be  the  most  popular  reading  of  the  Chi- 
nese. A few  plays  have  been  translated  into  English, 
but  are  hardly  adapted  for  the  European  stage.  Books 
are  extremely  cheap  in  China,  and  the  ‘sing-song’  books, 
as  they  are  called,  are  more  lively  and  entertaining  than 
most  others.  All  the  plays  represented  can  be  found  in 
print,  and  a complete  collection  would  outnumber  the 
British  drama. 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


107 


“ The  same  company  does  not  visit  a city  more  than 
once  in  three  or  four  years,  and  each  troop  has  a num- 
ber of  performances  in  which  it  is  particularly  skilled. 

“ The  only  harm  likely  to  result  from  theatrical  exhi- 
bitions arises  from  the  narrow  and  densely-crowded 
streets ; if  a panic  ensues,  many  are  trampled  to  death, 
and  a short  time  after  I left  Canton  a lamentable  tragedy 
occurred.  A fire  took  place  during  a performance,  and 
upward  of  two  thousand  persons  lost  their  lives  by  the 
flames  and  by  their  frantic  efforts  to  escape  destruction.”1 

These  theatrical  exhibitions  are  designed  partly  for 
the  propitiation  of  the  gods  and  good  and  evil  spirits. 
The  first  play  each  day  is  generally  religious  in  its 
character. 

The  Chinese  are  a religious  people,  yet  far  from  being 
so  superstitious  as  the  Hindhs.  Their  objects  of  worship 
are  generally  their  deceased  sages,  heroes,  emperors  or 
ancestors.  Every  house,  belonging  either  to  rich  or 
poor,  has  its  household  gods,  to  which  offerings  are  fre- 
quently made  according  to  the  mode  of  Chinese  worship, 
consisting  of  cakes,  rice,  plates  of  meat  and  cups  of  tea, 
which  are  placed  before  the  images  for  a certain  space 
of  time  and  then  taken  away  to  be  consumed  by  the 
family.  At  the  great  public  festivals,  tables  covered 
with  offerings  brought  by  the  people  are  set  in  the 
streets  or  in  the  temples,  and  are  arranged  with  the  nicest 
care.  Each  table  displays  a variety  of  choice  viands, 
such  as  ducks,  fowls,  pigs’  heads,  large  cakes,  fruits  and 
confectionery  of  all  kinds,  with  wine  and  rows  of  very 

1 Osmond  Tiffany,  Jr.  The  Canton  Chinese ; or,  The  American’s  Sojourn  in 
the  Celestial  Empire.  Boston,  1849. 


108 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


small  cups  filled  with  tea.  Upon  the  tables  are  large 
wax  candles  and  lighted  incense-sticks,  which  burn 
slowly,  and  when  exhausted  are  replaced  by  others. 
As  long  as  the  festival  lasts  the  tables  remain  un- 
touched, but  as  soon  as  it  is  ended  the  offerings  are  dis- 
tributed among  the  crowd,  so  that  the  lower  orders  may 
be  said  literally  to  share  in  all  public  festivities. 

The  commencement  of  a new  year  is  the  great  time 
for  feasting  and  merry-making  in  China  and  wherever 
its  people  emigrate.  The  Christmas  of  the  olden  time 
in  Europe  was  not  a season  of  more  universal  merriment 
than  this  is  in  the  Flowery  Land.  On  this  most  import- 
ant of  all  the  Chinese  festivals,  high  and  low,  the  rulers 
and  the  people,  indulge  in  a cessation  from  the  cares  of 
life  and  give  up  all  their  thoughts  to  pleasure.  A regu- 
lar order  is  issued  by  the  Board  of  Bites  that  all  gov- 
ernment business  shall  be  suspended  from  the  twentieth 
day  of  the  twelfth  month  to  the  same  day  of  the  first 
month ; thus  allowing  to  all  the  mandarins  in  office  a 
holiday  of  thirty  days,  unless  any  particular  business 
should  demand  their  attention ; and  they  do  not  fail  to 
avail  themselves  of  this  release  by  locking  up  their  seals 
and  preparing  to  enjoy  their  long  vacation.  The  rest 
of  the  people  devote  as  much  time  to  amusement  as  they 
can  spare  from  their  ordinary  avocations ; but  those  must 
be  miserable  indeed  who  do  not  join,  for  two  or  three 
days  at  least,  in  the  general  gayeties. 

The  festival,  which  begins  at  the  midnight  that  closes 
the  old  year,  is  ushered  in  by  the  ceremonies  of  offer- 
ings, incense-burning  and  numerous  other  rites,  which 
last  till  daylight;  the  temples  being  lighted  up,  the 
pagodas  illuminated  and  candles  set  up  before  the  do- 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


109 


mestic  idols  in  every  house.  As  soon  as  the  day 
appears,  visits  of  congratulation  are  paid  and  received, 
and  new  year’s  gifts  are  sent  to  particular  friends, 
always  accompanied  by  a visiting  card  of  red  paper, 
on  which  is  written  the  name  of  the  donor  and  a list 
of  the  presents  sent,  consisting  usually  of  silks,  fine  tea, 
sweetmeats,  ornaments,  toys  and  other  trifles  suited  to 
the  occasion.  All  the  actors,  musicians,  jugglers  and 
tumblers  in  the  empire  are  in  requisition  at  this  period 
of  recreation,  when  grand  entertainments  are  given  by 
the  rich,  and  plays  are  performed  in  the  streets,  at  the 
expense  of  government  or  by  a subscription  among  the 
inhabitants,  for  the  amusement  of  the  poor.  The  lower 
orders  are  very  much  addicted  to  gambling,  smoking  and 
drinking,  particularly  in  the  towns,  where  there  are 
plenty  of  booths  for  their  accommodation,  to  which  they 
resort  as  soon  as  their  daily  labors  are  ended.  These 
taverns,  which  are  merely  open  sheds,  are  much  fre- 
quented at  all  seasons,  but  at  holiday  times  they  are 
crowded  from  morning  till  night  with  noisy  revelers. 

The  last  day  of  the  year  is  not  quite  so  joyful  a one  as 
the  first,  for  among  the  many  regulations  of  the  Chinese 
government  is  a law  by  which  all  men  are  obliged  to 
settle  accounts  with  their  creditors  on  that  particular 
day  ; and  it  is  considered  so  disgraceful  to  leave  any  debt 
unpaid  that  the  unlucky  debtor  who  cannot  discharge 
his  pecuniary  obligations  at  the  appointed  time  is  liable 
to  be  treated  with  insult  and  injury  by  those  to  whom 
the  money  is  owing ; and  among  the  vulgar  it  is  not 
uncommon  for  an  individual  under  such  circumstances 
to  have  his  furniture  broken,  and  his  family  annoyed  in 
every  possible  way ; nor  can  he  apply  to  the  magistrates 


110 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


for  redress,  however  serious  the  injury  he  may  sustain, 
because  the  fact  of  not  having  paid  his  debts  would 
render  his  complaint  of  no  avail. 

The  Feast  of  Lanterns,  which  takes  place  almost  im- 
mediately after  the  celebration  of  the  new  year,  is  a 
popular  festival  of  ancient  date  among  the  Chinese,  and 
is  the  occasion  of  a most  brilliant  and  beautiful  spectacle. 
On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  moon,  every  city,  village 
and  hamlet  throughout  the  country  is  splendidly  illumi- 
nated with  an  infinite  variety  of  these  beautiful  lanterns, 
which,  are  hung  up  at  every  house,  from  the  palace  of 
the  viceroy  to  the  hut  of  the  humble  fisherman,  the 
general  feeling  being  a desire  on  the  part  of  each  to  out- 
shine his  neighbor.  The  tradition  respecting  this  festival 
is,  that  the  wife  of  an  emperor  of  one  of  the  early 
dynasties,  being  extravagant  and  fond  of  pleasure,  chose 
to  have  the  palace  illuminated  every  night  with  a thou- 
sand lights,  which  might  supply  the  place  of  the  sun  and 
keep  up  a perpetual  day  within  her  abode.  This  legend, 
which  refers  to  a period  antecedent  to  the  era  of  Confu- 
cius, may  be  received  as  an  evidence  that  the  Feast  of 
Lanterns  was  celebrated  in  China  in  very  ancient  times ; 
but  its  real  origin,  like  that  of  many  other  Chinese 
customs,  is  lost  in  obscurity,  nor  is  it  likely  ever  to  be 
discovered.  The  illumination  is  continued  for  three 
nights,  and  is  attended  by  a grand  display  of  fireworks, 
in  which  the  Chinese  excel  all  other  nations.  Many  of 
the  lanterns  made  for  such  occasions  exhibit  moving 
figures,  such  as  huntsmen  on  horseback  galloping  round, 
ships  sailing,  troops  of  soldiers  marching  or  people 
dancing,  all  kept  in  motion  by  some  ingenious  contri- 
vance not  visible  to  the  beholder,  the  propelling  power 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


Ill 


of  which  is  the  current  of  air  created  by  the  heat  of  the 
lamp  within.  These  are  seen  only  at  the  houses  of  the 
rich,  and  of  course  attract  vast  crowds  of  spectators. 
The  chief  part  of  the  many  thousands  of  lanterns 
manufactured  for  this  festival  are  of  strong,  transparent 
paper,  or  gauze,  varnished,  which  is  used  in  many  parts 
of  China  instead  of  window  glass.  Even  the  commonest 
of  them  are  elegant  in  shape  and  gayly  decorated,  so 
that  altogether  the  effect  of  the  illumination  is  very 
brilliant.  Even  the  poor  fishermen  who  dwell  on  the 
sea-shore,  and  those  who  live  in  boats  on  the  rivers, 
bestow  as  much  as  they  can  possibly  spare  of  their  hard 
earnings  for  the  purchase  of  a fine  lantern  to  exhibit  on 
this  festive  occasion ; so  that  even  the  waters  are  lighted 
up;  and  as  the  towns  and  villages  are  neither  few 
nor  far  between,  the  spectator  placed  upon  any  eminence 
beholds  on  all  sides  an  illuminated  panorama  of  the 
country.  During  the  festival  the  gates  of  the  cities  are 
left  open  at  night,  that  the  country-people  may  enjoy 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  display. 

Besides  the  annual  festivals  already  mentioned,  there 
are  several  others,  to  which  the  people  run  with  great 
eagerness.  The  “ Dragon  Festival,”  which  falls  in 
spring,  is  very  pretty  and  interesting.  It  is  a sort  of 
regatta,  and  is  in  honor  of  Kiuh-yuen,  a famous  sage, 
who  was  drowned  before  the  Christian  era.  The  boats 
are  shaped  like  Indian  canoes,  with  the  figure  of  a 
dragon  at  the  prow,  and  are  otherwise  highly  ornamented 
and  gilded  They  are  of  great  length,  and  the  rowers 
use  short  paddles  or  sculls.  They  dart  up  and  down 
the  rivers  in  vast  numbers  and  with  fearful  speed,  for 
the  long,  narrow  boats  cut  through  the  water  like  birds 


112 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


through  the  air.  Some  of  the  boats  contain  more  than 
sixty  men,  and  the  sport  sometimes  continues  two  or 
three  days.  The  boatmen  shoot  hither  and  thither,  as 
if  searching  for  some  lost  object;  and  this  commemorates 
the  efforts  made  to  discover  the  ancient  sage  when  he 
fell  into  the  river.  In  the  mean  time,  the  boatmen  shout 
and  the  people  on  shore  beat  gongs,  wave  flags  and  fire 
innumerable  crackers  to  inspire  the  rowers  to  redouble 
their  exertions.  If  firing  crackers  can  be  styled  a rec- 
reation, it  is  one  which  lasts  in  China  all  the  year  round, 
and  is  not  neglected  by  a human  being  in  the  empire. 
But  what  appear  to  a stranger  to  be  amusements,  in 
the  festivals  of  which  we  have  spoken,  are  in  their 
deeper  nature  manifestations  of  dark  and  distressing 
superstitions  and  idolatry,  which  fetter  alike  the  high- 
est and  the  lowest  minds.  The  explosions  of  the 
crackers  are  supposed  to  frighten  away  the  multitude 
of  evil  spirits  which  haunt  the  dwellings,  streets,  and 
waters,  and  thus  avert  sickness  and  calamities  of  many 
kinds. 

A very  remarkable  observance  of  a moral,  if  not  re- 
ligious, nature  is  the  stated  assemblage  of  the  people  of 
the  principal  cities  and  towns  to  hear  the  Commands,  or 
edicts,  of  the  emperors  Kang-hi  and  Yung-ching.  The 
object  is  that  the  moral  virtues  shall  be  instilled  into  the 
minds  of  the  people  by  the  magistrates,  who  are  obliged 
by  law  to  give  instruction  in  public  on  the  first  and  fif- 
teenth days  of  every  moon,  by  reading  one  of  the  sixteen 
discourses,  which  treat  on  all  the  principal  duties  of  social 
life  in  every  station.  The  first  lesson  is  on  filial  piety 
and  the  respect  which  a younger  should  pay  to  an  elder 
brother.  These  duties  are  so  strictly  enjoined  and  en- 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


113 


forced  that  a few  years  since  a man  was  put  to  death  for 
having  beaten  his  mother,  and  his  wife  shared  the  same 
fate  for  having  assisted  him.  The  act  was  regarded  as  a 
crime  so  heinous  that  the  house  in  which  it  was  perpe- 
trated was  deemed  unfit  for  the  residence  of  any  human 
being,  and  was  dug  up  from  the  foundation,  that  not  a 
stone  of  it  might  remain.  The  magistrates  were  all  dis- 
graced, the  wife’s  mother  was  severely  punished,  and 
the  scholars  of  that  polluted  district  were  prohibited 
from  attending  the  public  examinations  for  three  years. 
The  second  of  the  sixteen  discourses  exhorts  the  people 
to  preserve  a respectful  remembrance  of  their  ancestors, 
and  enjoins  them  not  to  neglect  to  visit  their  tombs  at 
the  proper  periods.  The  principal  subjects  of  the  other 
lectures  are — the  benefits  of  concord  in  the  villages ; the 
respect  due  to  the  profession  of  husbandry  and  the  cul- 
ture of  silk ; the  advantages  of  economy  and  industry ; 
the  education  of  youth ; application  to  business ; obe- 
dience to  the  laws ; and  the  punishments  incurred  by 
those  who  are  negligent  of  their  duties. 

The  care  of  admonishing  the  people  belongs  to  the 
officers  of  small  communities ; but  the  governors  have 
also  to  perform  their  part  as  teachers  by  assembling  the 
inferior  officials  within  their  provinces  about  once  a year 
to  give  them  instructions  as  to  their  respective  duties,  to 
which  they  are  bound  to  listen  with  respect,  as  coming 
from  the  emperor  himself  by  the  voice  of  his  repre- 
sentative. However,  all  these  moral  lectures  are  now 
printed  from  the  ancient  originals,  and  in  order  to  save 
themselves  trouble  the  mandarins  often  merely  enjoin 
the  people  or  their  headmen  to  read  them  at  least  once 

in  every  year.  At  every  step  one  must  be  careful  not 
8 


114 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


to  confound  theory  -with  practice,  and  not  to  attribute 
unreservedly  the  strict  ancient  usages  to  the  existing 
generation. 

In  a country  -where  the  system  of  instruction  is  en- 
tirely regulated  by  the  laws,  and  forms  so  material  a part 
of  the  constitution,  the  palpable  deficiency  is  that  there 
are  no  free  schools  supported  by  the  government.  Yet 
there  are  numerous  establishments  for  education  founded 
by  the  munificence  of  those  who  in  past  ages  have  ac- 
quired fame  and  riches  by  their  literary  attainments. 
The  master  of  a district  school  is  paid  at  the  rate  of 
two  to  three  dollars  a year  for  each  boy ; yet  even  this 
small  sum  cannot  very  easily  be  spared  by  .a  laboring 
man,  whose  wages  are  not  more  than  a few  pennies  a 
day;  so  that  many  families  of  the  poorer  classes  send 
only  one  son  to  school,  selecting,  of  course,  him  who 
shows  the  most  promising  genius.  The  boys  are  incited 
to  industry  and  good  behavior  by  the  hope  of  prizes 
which  are  distributed  at  stated  periods,  and  consist  of 
pencils,  paper,  Indian  ink  and  ink-stones  or  little  palettes 
for  grinding  the  ink,  which  are  all  much  prized  by  the 
Chinese,  who  call  them  “ the  four  precious  materials,” 
and  teach  the  children  to  keep  them  in  very  neat  order. 
In  most  of  the  country  villages  and  in  all  large  cities 
there  are  evening  schools  for  boys  who  are  obliged  to 
work  in  the  day-time ; for  the  children  of  the  poor  are 
inured  to  labor  from  a very  tender  age,  so  that  little 
fellows  of  five  or  six  years  of  age  may  be  seen  trudging 
along  the  roads  with  a stick  across  their  shoulders  carry- 
ing loads ; and  they  are  set  to  work  in  the  fields  almost 
as  soon  as  they  can  walk.  It  is  the  usual  practice  now 
for  persons  of  rank  and  wealth  to  engage  private  tutors 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


115 


for  their  children  ; but  whether  the  latter  are  educated 
at  home  or  at  a public  school,  they  must  undergo  the 
regular  examinations  before  they  are  eligible  to  office, 
nor  are  they  taught  in  any  way  differently  from  the  boys 
at  the  Tillage  seminaries. 

These  examinations  were  first  instituted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  selecting  the  fittest  persons  to  fill  all  offices  of 
state,  without  regard  to  rank  or  fortune,  and  have  as  a 
general  rule  previous  to  the  present  dynasty  been  con- 
ducted with  impartiality.  One  of  the  favorite  maxims 
of  the  Chinese  is,  “ By  learning  the  sons  of  the  poor 
become  great;  without  learning  the  sons  of  the  great 
are  mixed  with  the  common  people.’’  The  beneficial 
influence  of  this  maxim  is  observable  in  the  village 
schools,  which  are  generally  well  attended,  since  it  is 
natural  for  every  father  to  hope  that  one  of  his  children 
at  least  may  distinguish  himself  by  a superior  capacity, 
and  thus  make  his  own  fortune  as  well  as  that  of  his 
family ; for  as  parents  are  frequently  degraded  in  conse- 
quence of  the  misconduct  of  a son,  so  they  are  often 
honored  and  rewarded  on  account  of  his  virtues. 

Many  years  of  laborious  application  to  study  are  re- 
quired to  fit  a youth  to  become  a candidate  for  liter- 
ary distinction.  Five  or  six  years  are  entirely  spent  in 
committing  to  memory  the  works  of  the  ancient  sages, 
particularly  the  five  canonical  books  of  which  Confu- 
cius was  either  the  author  or  the  compiler  ; and  thus  its 
officers  come  to  know  by  heart  the  maxims  by  which  the 
empire  has  been  regulated  from  time  immemorial.  Six 
years  more  are  devoted  by  the  unwearied  student  to  the 
making  himself  master  of  the  art  of  composition,  to 
which  end  he  studies  innumerable  set  phrases  and  apt 


116 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TIIE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


similes ; so  that  the  learned  Chinese  all  write  in  the  same 
general  figurative  style  and  use  the  same  metaj)hors. 

The  lower  examinations  take  place  annually,  when 
those  young  men  who  are  looking  for  preferment  and 
are  qualified  for  trial  assemble  at  the  public  hall  before 
a council  of  the  literati,  who  are  to  judge  of  their  merits ; 
when  each  candidate  is  furnished  by  the  president  with 
a theme,  on  which  he  has  to  write  an  essay  and  an  ode 
to  test  his  fitness  for  a further  trial.  The  best  of  these 
compositions  being  selected,  the  authors  are  sent  to  the 
chief  literary  mandarin  of  the  department  in  which  their 
district  is  situated,  who  subjects  them  to  a much  more 
rigorous  examination  than  the  former  one,  which  ends 
by  giving  certificates  to  a certain  number,  who  thus  gain 
what  is  called  “ a name  in  the  village,”  while  the  rest 
either  give  up  the  pursuit  or  wait  for  the  next  opportu- 
nity of  making  another  trial.  The  chosen  few  have 
then  to  appear  before  a still  higher  tribunal,  which  is 
yet  stricter  than  the  last.  The  hall  where  this  trial 
takes  place  is  provided  with  a great  number  of  small 
apartments,  so  that  each  candidate  may  be  shut  up 
alone,  and  the  judges  thus  assured  that  their  perform- 
ances are  entirely  their  own.  They  are  even  searched 
on  entering  these  little  cells,  to  see  that  they  have 
neither  books  nor  papers  about  them;  and  this  being 
ascertained,  all  are  supplied  with  writing  materials  and 
themes  to  try  their  skill  in  composition,  both  in  prose  and 
verse.  To  guard  against  any  partiality  being  shown  by 
the  president  and  members  of  the  board,  these  papers 
are  laid  before  them  unsigned,  and  they  select  the  best 
without  knowing  who  are  the  authors.  The  fortunate 
individuals  whose  pieces  are  thus  approved  then  receive 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


117 


the  first  degree,  styled  Siu-tsai,  which  is  equivalent  to 
that  of  our  Bachelor  of  Arts ; but  the  numbers  are  so 
considerably  diminished  at  each  fresh  trial  that,  on  an 
average  it  is  reckoned  that  not  more  than  ten  arrive  at 
this  degree,  out  of  every  thousand  who  present  them- 
selves, in  the  first  instance,  at  the  hall  of  the  district; 
but  as  the  districts  are  numerous,  these  tens  amount  to 
several  hundreds  in  a province. 

The  second  degree  is  that  of  Ku-jin,  which  may  be 
translated  “elevated  man,”  a rank  equal  to  that  of  Master 
of  Arts  at  our  colleges.  All  those  who  have  attained  the 
first  step  are  qualified  to  try  for  the  second,  but  the  task 
is  a much  harder  one,  and  as  the  number  to  be  chosen  is 
very  small  in  proportion  to  that  of  the  candidates,  being 
not  much  more  than  one  out  of  every  hundred  and  forty, 
the  emulation  and  excitement  are  of  course  very  great. 
This  trial  takes  place  only  once  in  three  years  in  all  the 
provincial  capitals,  before  a board  composed  of  an  impe- 
rial chancellor  and  some  of  the  principal  officers  of  the 
province.  On  this  occasion,  as  before,  the  competitors 
write  their  essays  in  sejmrate  cells,  which  are  guarded 
by  soldiers  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  communication 
with  any  one  outside.  They  have  to  pass  through  three 
ordeals,  with  an  interval  of  two  days  between  each.  On 
the  first  day  two  or  three  thousand  pieces  are,  perhaps, 
sent  in  for  inspection  to  the  judges,  who  are  so  strict  that 
if  one  word  of  the  composition  be  incorrectly  written  it 
is  thrown  aside,  and  the  mark  with  which  it  is  signed 
(for  no  names  appear)  is  put  up  at  the  gate  of  the  hall, 
•which  spares  all  the  mortification  of  a public  rejection, 
as  no  one  knows  the  signature  but  the  candidate  himself, 
who,  on  recognizing  his  own  mark,  returns  quietly  home ; 


118 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


so  that  on  the  second  day  there  are  not  perhaps  one- 
quarter  of  the  original  number,  and  on  the  third  there 
are  fewer  still.  At  length  the  names  of  the  successful 
candidates  are  declared,  on  which  handbills  notifying 
the  same  are  printed  and  posted  up  in  all  directions; 
their  parents  and  nearest  relatives  are  sent  for  to  share 
in  the  honors  that  are  bestowed  on  them ; they  are  in- 
vited to  the  houses  of  the  great  and  overwhelmed  with 
presents  and  congratulations.  Their  blue  dress  is  ex- 
changed for  a brown  gown  with  a blue  border,  and  their 
silver  badge  superseded  by  a golden  or  gilt  one.  The 
happy  scholar  is  now  on  the  highroad  to  wealth  and  fame; 
he  is  qualified  for  any  office,  and  if  his  conduct  and 
ability  are  such  as  to  entitle  him  to  advancement,  he  is 
expected  to  rise. 

Such  are  the  means  by  which  nobility  is  acquired  in 
China,  and  before  the  reign  of  Yung-ching  they  were 
the  only  means ; but  in  the  reign  of  that  prince  and 
since  his  time  rich  merchants  and  others,  wrho  have  not 
gone  through  the  ordeal  above  described,  have  been 
allowed  to  purchase  rank,  and  have  thus  obtained  office 
without  possessing  the  necessary  qualifications ; but  this 
innovation  caused  much  dissatisfaction,  and  wras  not 
carried  then  to  any  great  extent.  There  are  still  two 
degrees  above  those  already  mentioned,  to  wffiich  all  who 
have  taken  the  second  degree  are  privileged  to  aspire. 
Once  in  three  years  those  who  are  ambitious  of  rising 
another  step  repair  to  Peking  for  the  examination  by 
the  doctors  of  the*Han-lin  College,  who  elect  three  hun- 
dred out  of  about  ten  thousand,  which  is  the  average 
number  of  candidates  for  the  honor  of  a rank  somewhat 
similar  to  that  which  among  us  is  called  Doctor  of  Laws. 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


119 


The  tliree  hundred  elected  to  this  dignity  are  again  ex- 
amined in  the  presence  of  the  emperor,  and  a few  of 
them  chosen  to  fill  up  the  vacancies  that  have  occurred 
in  the  Han-lin  College,  from  which  the  ministers  and 
other  high  officers  of  state  are  usually  appointed.  The 
attainment  of  this  grade  is  the  grand  object  of  every  one 
who  enters  upon  a literary  career  in  China — a grade 
equally  open  to  all,  yet  reached  only  by  a few. 

When  the  last  election  is  decided,  three  of  the  new 
members  whose  names  stood  highest  on  the  list  are  pa- 
raded round  the  city  for  three  days  with  flags  flying, 
drums  beating  and  all  the  usual  pompous  appendages 
of  a Chinese  procession. 

The  number  of  civil  officers  in  China,  it  is  estimated, 
amounts  to  about  fourteen  thousand,  all  of  whom  are 
paid  by  the  government.  Every  province  has  its  vice- 
roy, every  city  its  governor,  every  village  its  prefect,  and 
each  of  these  is  assisted  by  a council  of  inferior  magis- 
trates, and  has  a number  of  officers  in  various  depart- 
ments subordinate  to  him. 

The  officers,  whatever  may  be  their  rank,  are  only 
elected  for  three  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  they 
are  appointed  to  the  government  of  some  other  place. 
It  was  formerly  a custom  that  when  a good  magistrate 
of  a village  or  district  had  fulfilled  his  term  of  office,  the 
people  should  testify  their  respect  and  gratitude  by  send- 
ing a deputation  to  invest  him  with  a richly-embroidered 
robe,  which  was  proudly  preserved  in  his  family  as  a 
memorial  of  his  virtues ; and  on  such  an  occasion,  when 
the  time  of  his  departure  had  arrived,  the  villagers  would 
set  up  lighted  sticks  of  incense  for  some  distance  along 
the  road  by  which  he  was  to  pass,  and  kneel  down  by 


120 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  wayside  to  receive  his  farewell  greeting.  We  regret 
to  say  that  this  is  a picture  of  past  more  than  of  present 
times.  There  is  much  corruption  in  the  government, 
and  multitudes  of  the  people  pine  for  the  expulsion  of 
their  Tartar  rulers.  Yet  their  dynasty  as  a whole  has 
been  exceeded  by  no  other  in  the  intelligence  and  justice 
of  those  who  have  occupied  the  throne. 

Each  governor  of  a province  maintains  a court  of  his 
own,  and  whenever  he  appears  abroad  he  is  attended  by 
a numerous  retinue  bearing  the  symbols  of  his  high 
office.  He  is  carried  in  a gilded  chair  or  sedan,  and  in- 
variably followed  by  the  public  executioners,  some  car- 
rying chains,  others  that  universal  instrument  of  justice, 
the  bamboo,  which  is  very  unceremoniously  applied  on 
the  spot  to  any  unlucky  wight  who  may  chance  to  be 
detected  in  a misdemeanor ; consequently,  the  approach 
of  the  high  functionary  never  fails  to  inspire  a degree 
of  awe,  which  is  manifested  by  the  respectful  haste  with 
which  the  people  make  way  for  the  procession,  ranging 
themselves  close  to  the  wall,  where  they  stand  perfectly 
still  and  motionless  till  the  whole  retinue  has  passed. 
The  governors  are  entrusted  with  despotic  authority ; 
but  they  must  be  careful  how  they  use  it,  as  they  are 
always  liable  to  the  visits  of  the  imperial  commission- 
ers, who  frequently  arrive  from  the  capital  without 
giving  notice  of  their  approach,  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  whether  all  is  as  it  should  be ; and  if  they  find 
anything  wrong  it  is  immediately  reported  at  the  court, 
when  the  offender  is  visited  with  a prompt,  and  often  a 
severe,  punishment.  A single  word  from  the  emperor 
is  sufficient  at  any  time  to  deprive  the  first  grandee  in 
the  land  of  his  rank,  his  property,  or  even  his  life.  The 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


121 


governor  of  a province  or  city  is  particularly  liable  to 
such  a reverse  from  tlie  nature  of  the  laws,  which  hold 
him  responsible  for  many  public  calamities,  which  are 
attributed  to  accident  in  other  countries,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  arise  from  want  of  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the 
chief  magistrates,  who  are  required  to  see  that  the  sub- 
ordinate officers  are  attentive  to  their  several  duties. 
Every  one  holding  an  official  situation  is  answerable  for 
the  conduct  of  those  below  him,  and  if  the  inferiors  are 
negligent  in  their  respective  departments,  the  superiors 
are  liable  to  punishment.  Thus,  if  the  country  is  inun- 
dated by  the  sudden  rising  of  a river,  the  chief  magis- 
trate is  considered  in  fault  for  not  having  attended  dili- 
gently to  the  repairing  of  the  embankments.  Should 
lives  or  property  fall  a sacrifice  to  fire,  it  is  presumed 
that  they  might  have  been  saved  by  more  active  meas- 
ures ; consequently  the  magistrates  are  blamed  for  not 
keeping  a more  efficient  police,  and  the  governors  are 
blamed  for  appointing  such  careless  magistrates.  The 
most  usual  punishment  for  maladministration  is  degra- 
dation to  a lower  rank,  according  to  the  nature  and  mag- 
nitude of  the  offence.  If  the  fault  be  a very  serious 
one,  the  offender,  if  of  the  highest  degree,  is  perhaps 
degraded  to  the  lowest;  that  is,  from  the  first  to  the 
ninth  class  of  officers ; but  if  it  be  only  a trivial  error, 
he  is  lowered  one,  ty'o  or  three  degrees ; and  in  most 
cases  the  punishment  is  only  for  a certain  time,  at  the 
expiration  of  which  he  is  restored  to  his  rank  and  office, 
and  resumes  his  former  place  in  society  as  though 
nothing  had  happened,  for  a temporary  disgrace  of  that 
kind  leaves  no  stigma  on  the  character  of  the  individual. 

Crimes  that  are  considered  in  the  light  of  treason  are 


122 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


visited  with  a heavier  penalty.  Banishment  or  death  is 
the  doom  of  him  who  is  discovered  to  have  neglected  or 
disobeyed  the  commands  of  the  emperor ; and  generally 
the  whole  family  of  the  culprit  share  in  some  measure 
his  fate,  although  they  may  be  wholly  innocent  of  any 
participation  in  his  crime.  The  enactment  of  this  un- 
just law  was  no  doubt  originally  intended  to  deter  people 
from  ill-advising  their  relatives  or  encouraging  them  in 
any  act  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  government,  and 
even  to  make  them  watchful  and  anxious  for  the  good 
conduct  of  each  other. 

The  seat  of  government  is  at  Peking,  a name  which 
means  the  “ Northern  Capital,”  where,  on  the  borders 
of  their  original  territory,  the  Manchu  Tartars  have 
planted  their  imperial  power.  The  previous  native 
dynasty,  the  Ming,  had  its  seat  at  Nanking,  the 
“Southern  Capital.”  Two  centuries’  enjoyment  of 
dominion  and  wealth  have  made  Peking  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  cities  in  the  empire. 

The  city  is  about  twenty-five  miles  in  circumference. 
It  is  divided  into  two  distinct  parts ; the  northern,  or 
Tartar  city,  and  the  southern,  or  Chinese  city.  The 
former,  which  is  inhabited  chiefly  by  Tartars,  is  sur- 
rounded by  a wall  with  nine  gates,  always  guarded  by 
soldiers,  and  contains  the  imperial  palace,  which,  with 
its  magnificent  gardens,  stands  in  the  centre,  within  a 
space  of  about  five  miles  in  circumference,  enclosed  by 
another  wall,  and  called  the  Forbidden  City,  as  no  one 
may  enter  it  but  privileged  persons.  The  Tartar  city 
contains  the  residences  of  all  the  grandees  of  the  court, 
the  halls  of  the  Six  Tribunals,  the  Han-lin  College,  sev- 
eral superb  temples,  a Mohammedan  mosque  and  many 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


123 


other  public  buildings.  The  principal  streets  are  very- 
long  and  wide,  and  contain  numerous  shops  as  well  as 
private  houses ; but  they  are  not  paved,  which  is  a great 
inconvenience  in  wet  weather ; neither  are  they  lighted 
at  night;  but  as  no  one  is  allowed  to  be  abroad  after 
dark  unless  on  some  very  particular  occasion,  it  is  not 
of  much  importance  that  they  should  be  so,  particularly 
as  any  one  who  is  obliged  to  go  out  must  carry  a lantern 
with  him.  Large  spaces  of  ground  in  this  part  of 
Peking  are  occupied  by  ornamental  gardens  belonging 
to  the  richer  classes,  and  it  is  adorned  with  a fine  lake 
a mile  and  a half  in  length  and  more  than  a quarter  of 
a mile  in  breadth,  crossed  by  a bridge  of  nine  arches 
constructed  entirely  of  white  marble.  The  banks  of 
this  lake  are  bordered  with  trees,  among  which  the 
drooping  willow  bends  its  graceful  branches ; and  in  the 
midst  of  this  expanse  of  waters  is  an  islet  adorned  with 
a temple  and  an  elegant  pagoda,  the  never-failing  orna- 
ments of  Chinese  scenery.  Peking  is,  therefore,  by  no 
means  devoid  of  natural  beauties ; and  even  the  old,  or 
Chinese  town,  which  is  the  trading  part  of  the  capital, 
contains  large  gardens  and  fields  where  vegetables  are 
grown  for  the  daily  supply  of  the  markets;  and  also 
many  nursery-grounds,  where  flowers  are  cultivated 
expressly  for  the  adornment  of  the  ladies  of  Peking, 
who  wear  them  in  th^j  hair 
mode  of  decorating  tlie  hair  is  generally  adopted  in  all 
parts  of  China,  and  when  natural  flowers  are  not  to  be 
obtained,  artificial  ones  are  substituted;  but  a female  head 
is  seldom  seen  without  the  one  or  the  other,  which,  among 
the  higher  classes,  are  mixed  with  golden  bodkins,  jewels 
and  other  ornaments. 


. This  simple  and  elegant 


124 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  temples  in  this  part  of  the  capital  are  very  mag- 
nificent, especially  those  dedicated  to  Heaven  and  Earth  ; 
the  former  standing  in  the  centre  of  a spacious  enclosure, 
elevated  by  three  stages,  each  ascended  by  a flight  of 
marble  steps  and  surrounded  by  a handsome  balustrade. 
Within  the  enclosure  is  an  edifice  styled  the  Palace  of 
Abstinence,  to  which  it  is  customary  for  the  emperor  to 
retire  for  three  days  before  the  grand  ceremony  of  sacri- 
ficing in  the  temple,  which  is  performed  annually  at  the 
winter  solstice,  when  the  emperor  officiates  in  his  charac- 
ter of  higli-priest ; and  on  this  occasion  the  produce  of 
the  field  he  ploughed  in  the  spring,  with  the  silks  cul- 
tured and  woven  within  the  precincts  of  the  palace,  are 
offered  up  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  df  the  Universe,  under 
the  name  of  Tien,  or  Lord  of  Heaven.  The  procession 
to  the  temple  on  the  day  of  the  sacrifice  is  very  mag- 
nificent, as  the  emperor  is  accompanied  by  the  whole 
court,  besides  a numerous  cavalcade  of  civil  and  military 
mandarins,  all  in  full  dress.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  a 
religious  procession  there  should  be  no  priests,  nor  any 
symbols  of  its  sacred  character ; unless  we  may  so  con- 
sider a vast  number  of  lighted  flambeaux  and  several 
hundred  gorgeous  lanterns,  which  are  carried  in  the 
train.  On  the  day  of  this  solemnity,  as  w^-.i  as  that  of 
the  ploughing  festival,  the  emperor  is  visible,  but  is  sel- 
dom seen  in  public  at  any  ot^p  time,  or  passes  the 
boundary  wall  of  his  own  park,  except  during  the  annual 
hunting  expedition  or  when  he  removes  from  one  royal 
residence  to  another. 

The  streets  of  Peking  are  crowded,  noisy  and  bustling; 
for  there,  as  in  all  other  great  cities  of  China,  it  is  a com- 
mon custom  for  men  of  the  lower  orders  to  work  at  their 


SOCIAL  LIFE,  AMUSEMENTS,  ETC. 


125 


several  trades  in  the  streets,  where  they  sit  with  their 
tools  around  them  as  if  they  were  in  a workshop.  Cob- 
blers, tinkers  and  blacksmiths  set  up  their  apparatus 
wherever  they  may  obtain  a job;  and  medicine-venders, 
who  are  generally  fortune-tellers  also,  establish  them- 
selves, with  their  compounds  ranged  in  order  before 
them,  in  any  convenient  locality.  There  are  also  a great 
number  of  peddlers,  ballad-singers  and  mountebanks,  who 
contribute  no  less  to  the  noise  than  to  the  throng.  But 
the  most  remarkable  persons  who  exercise  their  calling 
in  the  streets  are  the  barbers,  who  are  all  licensed,  and 
shave  the  heads  and  plait  the  queues  of  their  customers 
with  the  utmost  gravity  in  the  open  air.  All  the  men 
of  the  lower  orders,  as  well  as  some  of  a higher  class, 
have  this  operation  performed  in  the  public  street. 
The  shops  have  open  fronts,  gayly  painted,  and  before 
the  door  of  each  is  a wooden  pillar,  covered  with  gilt 
characters  describing  the  nature  of  the  goods  sold  with- 
in ; and  as  these  sign-posts  are  usually  decorated  with 
gay  streamers  floating  from  the  top,  they  have  not  been 
unaptly  compared  in  appearance  to  a line  of  ships’  masts 
with  colors  flying.  The  windows  of  all  the  houses  in 
Peking  are  made  of  Corea  paper,  very  frequently  of  a 
rose  color,  and  strengthened  by  a thin  framework  of 
bamboo ; for  there  is  no  glass  in  the  north  of  China,  nor 
is  it  yet  very  commoi^  in  the  south,  although  more  fre- 
quently seen  now  than  in  the  last  century.  The  houses 
in  Peking  are  seldom  more  than  one  story  in  height, 
and  have  flat  roofs,  which  are  often  covered  with  flowers 
and  shrubs ; for  as  there  are  no  fireplaces,  so  there  are 
no  chimneys,  the  rooms  being  warmed  by  pans  of  lighted 
charcoal,  of  which  fuel  great  quantities  are  brought  from 


126 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tartary  on  dromedaries,  and  these  animals  are  constantly 
seen  thus  laden  in  the  streets  of  the  city. 

The  new  town  was  partly  built  and  greatly  embel- 
lished by  the  emperor  Yung-lo  when  he  removed  the 
court  from  Nanking  to  Peking,  which  was  then  entirely 
inhabited  by  Chinese ; but  when  it  was  taken  by  the 
Manchus,  the  native  people  were  all  driven  out  of  the 
new  town  and  the  houses  given  to  the  Tartar  conquerors, 
since  which  time  it  has  been  called  the  Tartar  city.  In 
this  part  of  the  city  the  streets  are  wide  and  handsome, 
but  the  old  town  presents  the  same  general  features  that 
distinguish  all  the  great  cities  of  China ; the  most  strik- 
ing of  which  are  the  high  walls,  narrow  streets,  open- 
fronted  shops,  gayly-decorated  temples  and  triumphal 
arches,  with  a constant  succession  of  sedans  and  noisy 
processions,  the  bustle  being  increased  by  the  incessant 
activity  of  itinerant  artificers  and  venders  of  almost  every 
commodity,  amongst  whom  not  a few  are  water-sellers. 

The  triumphal  arches,  which  are  seen  in  most  of  the 
principal  streets,  are  ornamental  gateways  that  have 
been  erected  in  honor  of  eminent  persons ; by  which 
may  be  understood  those  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  wisdom  and  virtues,  either  in  public  or 
private  life.  The  emperor  Kang-lii,  for  instance,  or- 
dained that  every  widow  who  attained  to  her  hundredth 
year  without  forming  a second  matj^imonial  engagement 
should  be  presented  with  thirty  taels  of  silver  for  the 
erection  of  a triumphal  arch,  with  an  inscription  in  her 
praise ; for  although  a woman  is  allowed  to  take  a second 
husband  if  she  pleases,  and  many  do  so,  it  is  accounted 
far  more  honorable  to  remain  faithful  to  the  memory  of 
the  first. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 

fT!HE  ancient  records  of  China  mention  nine  sovereigns 
of  the  first  dynasty,  founded  by  Fuhi,  whom  they 
suppose  to  have  been  gifted  with  siqDerhuman  virtues 
and  knowledge,  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  rescue 
the  people  from  their  original  barbarism  and  to  instruct 
them  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  which  were  undoubtedly 
acquired  at  a very  early  period  and  promoted  by  the 
rulers  of  the  country. 

The  earliest  and  most  useful  of  these  arts  were  hus- 
bandry and  silk-weaving,  both  of  which  must  have  been 
taught  by  necessity  as  soon  as  the  nation  was  established, 
as  the  people  depended  for  subsistence  on  the  cultivation 
of  the  land,  and  for  clothing  on  the  chief  natural  pro- 
duce of  the  country  adapted  for  that  purpose,  which  was 
found  in  the  vast  forests,  where  silkworms  were  abun- 
dant on  many  species  of  the  forest  trees.  The  merit  of 
teaching  the  people  to  weave  silk  into  garments  and  dye 
it  of  various  colors  is  ascribed  to  one  of  the  earliest 
empresses — Si-ling ; and  that  of  instructing  them  in  hus- 
bandry is  given  to  Shin-nung,  which  may  be  translated 
either  “ Shin,  the  husbandman,”  or  “ the  divine  hus- 
bandman,” the  immediate  successor  of  Fuhi,  whose  name 
is  held  in  veneration  accordingly  ; and  even  to  this  day 

> 127 


128  the  oldest  and  the  newest  empire. 

the  Chinese  offer  lip  annual  sacrifices  and  hold  a festival 
in  honor  of  the  princess  who  first  wove  silken  garments, 
and  the  no  less  praiseworthy  monarch  who  taught  his 
people  to  plough  the. earth. 

Agricultural  pursuits  have  always  been,  and  still  are, 
held  in  the  highest  estimation  by  the  Chinese,  who  com- 
mence the  year  with  a grand  festival  in  honor  of  the 
spring ; on  which  occasion  the  emperor,  in  imitation  of 
his  ancient  predecessor,  performs  the  operations  of 
ploughing  and  sowing  seed  in  a field  set  apart  for  that 
purpose — a custom  which  lias  seldom  been  neglected  by 
the  sovereigns  of  China,  who  have  thus  by  their  own 
example  stimulated  their  subjects  to  the  performance  of 
these  useful  labors  and  maintained  the  honorable  charac- 
ter of  the  husbandman,  who  even  now  holds  a rank  in 
their  theory  of  society  next  to  the  literary  man,  and 
above  that  of  the  soldier  or  the  merchant,  however 
wealthy  the  latter  may  be.  Among  the  ancients,  par- 
ticularly the  Egyptians,  Persians  and  Greeks,  it  was  a 
common  practice  to  hold  games  and  festivals,  mingled 
with  religious  ceremonies,  at  that  season  when  the  earth 
is  ready  to  receive  the  seed,  thus  showing  the  cheerful- 
ness with  which  the  farmers  returned  to  their  rustic 
toils,  and  the  reliance  they  placed  on  a superior  Being  to 
reward  them  with  an  abundant  harvest.  The  old  festi- 
val of  Plough  Monday  in  England  was  probably  derived 
from  these  customs  of  the  ancients,  and  was  formerly 
celebrated  in  all  the  rural  districts  with  great  merry- 
makings on  the  Monday  following  Twelfth  Day ; some  of 
the  rites  observed  being  not  unlike  those  among  the 
Chinese ; as  an  instance  of  which,  the  plough-light  was 
set  up  before  the  image  of  some  patron  saint  in  the  vil- 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA.  129 

# 

lage  church — a custom  somewhat  similar  to  that  observed 
among  the  Chinese,  wrho  placed  lighted  candles  opposite 
certain  images  in  their  temples. 

To  their  ancient  emperors  they  impute  inventions 
which  must  have  been  made  much  farther  West  and 
previous  to  their  existence. 

One  is  said  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  writing, 
another  of  musical  instruments,  a third  the  discoverer 
of  the  art  of  working  in  metals,  while  a fourth  has  the 
credit  of  having  taught  his  subjects  to  build  bridges. 
Shin-nung  was  the  father  of  several  inventions.  His 
successor,  Hwang-ti,  divided  all  the  land  into  groups  of 
nine  equal  squares,  of  which  the  middle  one  was  to  be 
cultivated  in  common  for  the  benefit  of  the  State.  He 
is  said,  likewise,  to  have  invented  the  mode  of  noting 
the  cycles  of  sixty  years,  the  foundation  of  the  Chinese 
system  of  chronology.1  Other  emperors  of  this  semi- 
fabulous  period  are  celebrated  for  their  skill  in  astronomy 
and  chronological  computations.  But  some  of  these 
inventions  had  in  truth  been  brought  from  the  plains 
of  Chaldea.  And  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  Chinese  at 
one  extreme  of  the  habitable  world  retaining  the  Baby- 
lonish sacred  number  of  sixty  for  the  largest  division  of 
time,  and  ourselves,  at  the  other  extreme,  applying  it  to 
the  smallest — the  minutes  and  seconds.  They,  like  us, 
preserve  twelve  as  a numerical  division  for  hours,  though 

1 According  to  this  system,  which  seems  to  have  been  kept  up  with  great 
care  and  precision,  they  are  now  in  the  seventy-sixth  cycle.  The  year  1863 
completed  the  seventy-fifth ; that  is,  exactly  four  thousand  five  hundred  years 
since  the  date  assumed  for  a beginning,  which  would  be  2637  B.  C.  Whatever 
theory  of  chronology  we  adopt,  this  must  carry  us  back  to  an  early  generation 
after  the  deluge,  or  into  the  life  of  Noah,  of  whom,  as  has  been  shown,  they 
retain  a legendary  remembrance. 

9 


130  TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

they  reckon  the  hours  of  light  and  darkness  as  but  six 
each.1 

Among  the  wonderful  inventions  which  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  originated  in  China  is  that  of  the  mari- 
ner’s compass,  which,  according  to  an  old  tradition,  was 
invented  by  the  same  Hwang-ti  to  guide  him  through 
the  forests  when  hunting.  This  story  may  be,  and  most 
probably  is,  an  utter  fiction,  but  it  forms  a reasonable 
ground  for  supposing  that  the  powers  of  the  magnet 
were  originally  discovered  by  the  Chinese  ages  before 
the  Christian,  era.  It  appears,  however,  from  modern 
research,  that  although  the  attractive  power  of  the  load- 
stone has  been  known  to  the  Chinese  from  remote 
antiquity,  its  property  of  communicating  polarity  to  iron 
is  for  the  first  time  explicitly  noticed  in  a Chinese  dic- 
tionary which  was  finished  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
second  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  Arabs  bor- 
rowed the  invaluable  invention  from  the  Chinese,  with 
whom  they  then  traded,  and  Europeans  borrowed  it  from 
the  Arabs  during  the  early  Crusades ; for  it  is  now  uni- 
versally admitted  that  Gioja  of  Amalfi,  or  whoever 
brought  it  into  notice  in  the  West,  was  only  the  intro- 
ducer, and  not  the  inventor,  of  the  magnetic  needle. 
Gilbert,  in  his  work  on  the  Magnet,  asserts  directly  that 
Marco  Polo  brought  the  knowledge  of  it  to  Europe  about 
A.  D.  1260.  But  it  was  probably  used  before  his  time, 
at  least  east  of  the  Bed  Sea ; and  he  does  not  seem  to 
make  mention  of  it  in  his  own  book. 

The  last  two  emperors  of  the  line  of  Fuhi  are  cele- 
brated, under  the  names  of  Yau  and  Shun,  as  the  wisest 


1 Herodotus  says  (lib.  ii.,  § 109)  that  the  Greeks  obtained  the  division  of  the 
day  into  twelve  parts  from  the  Babylonians. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


131 


and  best  of  princes,  and  have  always  been  beld  up  as 
bright  examples  to  all  Chinese  sovereigns.  They  are 
reckoned  among  the  sages  of  China,  and  to  them  are  at- 
tributed most  of  the  political  institutions  by  which  the 
country  is  even  now  governed.  About  this  time  it  is  men- 
tioned that  the  lands  were  flooded.  It  was  then  that  Yau 
the  Great,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Shun,  distinguished 
himself  by  draining  the  lands,  which  by  his  means  were 
again  rendered  fit  for  cultivation ; and  for  this  eminent 
service,  added  to  his  wisdom  and  numerous  good  quali- 
ties, he  was  appointed  by  the  emperor  to  succeed  him  on 
the  throne,  according  to  the  laws  of  China,  by  which  the 
reigning  sovereign  chooses  his  successor.  Yau,  to  promote 
Shun,  set  aside  his  own  son.  Even  at  the  present  day 
the  choice  of  the  emperor  regulates  the  succession  to  the 
throne,  and  it  is  seldom  that  the  eldest  son  succeeds  in 
preference  to  the  rest.  By  this  time  the  empire  was  ex- 
tended over  all  the  northern  provinces  as  far  as  the 
Yang-tsz-kiang  river,  not  by  conquest,  but  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  colonies  as  the  population  increased. 
The  monarchs  from  time  to  time  bestowed  the  govern- 
ment of  these  new  settlements  on  their  relatives,  so  that 
there  arose  by  degrees  a number  of  petty  kingdoms,  each 
having  its  own  sovereign,  who  was  dependent  on  the  em- 
peror. Of  the  southern  part  of  the  country  very  little 
was  then  known,  but  it  is  supposed  it  had  but  few  in- 
habitants, and  that  these  were  in  a state  of  barbarism. 

As  time  rolled  on  the  country  became  more  populous 
and  the  people  more  civilized  than  in  earlier  days.  The 
emperors,  who  succeeded  each  other  without  interrup- 
tion, employed  sages  to  record  the  principal  events  that 
occurred  during  their  several  reigns ; but  in  these  early 


132 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


annals  much  fable  is  blended  with  the  truth,  just  as  in 
the  early  traditions  of  the  classic  nations  of  Europe;  and 
yet  there  is  much  less  that  is  extravagant  and  much 
more  that  is  designed  to  convev  sound  lessons  of  moral- 
ity  in  those  of  the  Chinese.  It  is  supposed  that  the  ear- 
liest authentic  history  relating  to  the  Chinese  empire  is 
contained  in  the  compilations  of  Confucius,  who  was  born 
in  China  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  who  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
characters  that  ever  appeared  in  that  country.  He  was 
nearly  contemporary  with  Herodotus,  the  father  of  Gre- 
cian history,  and  Pope  has  given  to  him  a very  lofty 
niche  in  his  Temple  of  Fame  : 

“Superior  and  alone  Confucius  stood, 

"Who  taught  that  useful  science — to  be  good.’' 

The  monarchy  had  probably  then  made  great  progress 
in  civilization.  The  people  lived  under  a regular  form 
of  government,  were  skilled  in. agriculture  and  were  ac- 
quainted with  many  useful  and  elegant  arts.  The  north- 
ern part  of  the  country  was  still  divided  into  the  several 
small  principalities  which  had  been  granted  by  the  em- 
perors at  different  times  to  their  sons  and  brothers,  who 
constituted  the  only  hereditary  nobility  of  the  State,  and 
were  all  tributary  to  the  chief  sovereign.  Each  of  these 
petty  states  contained  a city,  where  the  prince  resided, 
and  all  around  it  were  numerous  villages  and  detached 
dwellings  inhabited  by  the  peasantry,  who  held  small 
farms,  which  they  cultivated  for  their  own  advantage, 
growing  rice  and  vegetables  in  abundance,  so  that  every 
poor  man  could  support  his  family  by  his  own  industry. 
They  were  not  held  in  bondage  by  the  great,  like  the 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


133 


peasantry  of  Europe  during  the  feudal  ages;  and  amongst 
other  privileges  which  they  enjoyed  were  these:  a ninth 
part  of  the  land  was  in  common  amongst  them  for  pas- 
turage and  farming,  and  all  the  poor  were  at  liberty  to 
fish  in  the  ponds  and  lakes — a right  which  was  denied  to 
the  lower  orders  in  feudal  countries,  where  the  mass  of 
the  people  were  vassals  and  slaves.  The  peasants  of 
China,  therefore,  appear  to  have  been  at  that  period  in  a 
better  condition  than  those  of  any  other  part  of  the  world, 
working  for  themselves  and  paying  taxes  to  their  respec- 
tive princes,  who  by  that  means  raised  the  tribute  wThich 
the  emperor  claimed  of  them. 

At  the  time  of  Confucius  all  taxes  and  tribute  were 
paid  as  they  are  at  present,  chiefly  in  kind — usually,  as 
Mencius,  w’ho  lived  in  the  next  generation,  says,  to  the 
amount  of  about  one-tenth  of  the  produce  of  the  earth. 
It  is,  however,  supposed  there  was  always  some  sort  of 
coined  money  current  among  the  Chinese,  and  that  at  a 
very  early  period  of  the  monarchy  they  had  coins  of  gold 
and  silver  as  well  as  of  lead,  iron  and  copper ; but  many 
ages  have  elapsed  since  any  other  than  copper  money 
has  been  in  use  among  them.  Silver  is  also  used  as  a 
medium  of  exchange,  beaten  out  into  small  bars  or 
pieces,  and  upon  these  responsible  traders  generally  put 
their  stamp  in  a small  character,  so  that  they  become  in 
time  particularly  ragged  and  broken.  Yet  even  in  these 
bits  adroit  rogues  make  holes  which  they  fill  with  lead. 
In  buying  and  selling  men  scrutinize  them  carefully 
and  weigh  them,  being  always  provided  with  a small 
pair  of  scales  for  that  purpose.  They  reckon  their  ac- 
counts by  means  of  an  instrument  called  in  the  Canton 
dialect,  the  sun-pun,  which  resembles  the  Roman  abacus. 


134 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


It  consists  of  a frame  across  which  are  fastened  thin 
rods  of  bamboo,  like  the  notation  tables  used  in  the  pri- 
mary schools  of  America.  But  instead  of  ten  balls,  as 
with  us,  the  Chinese-  use  seven.  A cross-bar  divides  the 
frame,  so  that  the  rods  have  on  one  side  five  balls  each, 
on  the  other  side  two  each.  The  two  balls  on  each  rod 
count,  however,  five  apiece.  This  makes  the  process  of 
counting  more  rapid  and  certain.  Commencing  at  any 
convenient  rod  or  row,  it  counts  as  units,  the  second  as 
tens,  the  third  as  hundreds,  the  fourth  as  thousands,  and 
so  on.  To  count  five,  either  the  five  balls  on  the  lower 
side  of  the  units  row  are  pushed  up  or  to  the  middle 
with  the  finger,  or  one  of  the  two  balls  on  the  other 
side  of  it.  Ten  is  made  by  the  two  five  balls,  or  by  one 
of  them  and  five  of  the  other  balls.  And  thus  we  go 
on  in  each  row  successively  for  tens,  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands. For  any  number  between  five  and  ten  a five  ball 
is  pushed  to  the  middle  and  the  remainder  in  single  balls 
from  the  other  end  of  the  same  row.  An  expert  ac- 
countant pushes  the  balls  with  his  fingers  as  rapidly  in 
adding  or  subtracting  as  a player  strikes  the  keys  upon 
a piano.  It  is  rarely  a mistake  is  made,  and  when  done 
it  is  never  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  accountant.  The 
invention  of  the  sun-pun  is  attributed  to  the  emperor 
Hwang-ti,  the  same  who  is  said  to  have  found  his  way 
through  the  forests  by  means  of  the  compass.  Their 
arithmetic,  as  well  as  their  weights  and  measures,  pro- 
ceeds universally  on  the  decimal  scale ; and  decimal 
fractions  are  their  vulgar  fractions,  or  those  in  common 
use.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  single  exception  to  this 
consists  in  their  kin  or  marketing  pound-weight,  which, 
like  ours,  is  divided  into  sixteen  ounces  or  parts.  This 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


135 


affords  another  illustration  of  the  common  origin  of  the 
Chinese  and  our  own  arithmetic  and  weights  and  meas- 
ures in  Central  Asia.  The  Roman  Catholic  missionaries 
relate  that  when  the  first  of  them  went  to  China  from 
Europe  they  found  Persian  astronomers  at  the  Chinese 
court,  who  yielded  the  field  to  their  superior  scientific 
knowledge.  There  are  still  many  things  in  the  Chinese 
ideas  of  astronomy  which  remind  us  of  those  of  the 
ancient  Chaldeans. 

There  were  public  markets  in  the  towns  to  which  the 
people  generally  resorted  about  noon ; and  there  were 
shops  also,  where  the  artisans  pursued  their  various 
callings,  and  sold,  or  exchanged  with  the  farmers  the 
produce  of  their  labors  for  rice  and  other  commodities 
of  which  they  stood  in  need.  Beyond  the  cultivated 
lands  were  pastures  for  sheep ; and  the  rest  of  the 
country  generally  consisted  of  extensive  forests,  inhab- 
ited by  tigers  and  other  beasts  of  prey,  which  were  so 
destructive,  especially  among  the  flocks,  that  great  hunt- 
ing-parties were  made  every  spring  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  them ; and  this  dangerous  sport  seems  to  have 
been  the  favorite  amusement  of  the  sovereigns  and  great 
men  of  the  land. 

For  a long  series  of  years,  trade,  even  with  foreign 
nations,  appears  to  have  been  remarkably  free.  The 
markets  of  China  were  the  resorts  of  foreign  merchants 
before  the  Romans  invaded  Britain,  and  her  ports  were 
annually  visited  by  great  squadrons  of  commercial 
vessels  from  the  Red  sea,  the  Persian  gulf,  Ceylon,  the 
Malabar  coast  and  the  coast  of  Coromandel. 

The  principal  weapons  used  both  in  war  and  hunting 
were  bows  and  arrows,  consequently  the  practice  of 


136 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


archery  was  a constant  and  favorite  sport  of  the  great, 
and  there  were  particular  rules  by  which  it  was  con- 
ducted; as,  for  example,  the  imperial  target  was  the 
skin  of  a bear,  while  that  of  a stag  was.  set  up  as  a mark 
for  a prince  to  aim  at,  and  that  of  a tiger  for  the  gran- 
dees of  the  court.  Yet  the  Chinese  have  not  often  during 
their  long  history  attempted  to  enter  the  lists  of  the 
world  as  a martial  nation,  holding  literature,  as  they 
have  done  husbandry,  in  far  higher  estimation  than  mili- 
tary achievements ; regarding  the  man  who  distinguishes 
himself  by  his  literary  attainments  beyond  him  who 
gained  renown  by  his  warlike  exploits,  and  the  hus- 
bandman who  labored  in  the  field  as  a better  member 
of  society  than  the  soldier  who  fought  in  it.  Yet  the 
petty  princes  were  frequently  at  war  with  each  other, 
so  that  the  whole  of  the  empire  was  seldom  quite  at 
peace. 

The  education  of  youth  was  considered  of  so  much 
importance  that  every  district  was  obliged  by  law  to 
maintain  a public  school,  where  boys  were  sent  at  eight 
years  of  age  to  be  instructed  in  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic, and  their  several  duties  to  j)arents,  teachers, 
elders  and  magistrates,  as  well  as  to  their  equals  and 
inferiors.  They  were  also  taught  to  commit  to  memory 
a great  number  of  wise  maxims  and  moral  sentences 
contained  in  the  writings  of  the  ancient  sages;  and 
many  of  their  lessons  were  in  verse,  that  they  might  be 
the  more  readily  learned  and  remembered.  A new 
school  was  always  opened  with  much  ceremony  in  the 
presence  of  the  chief  magistrate,  who  delivered  a dis- 
course to  the  boys,  exhorting  them  to  be  diligent  and 
submissive  to  the  master,  and  setting  forth  the  advan- 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA.  137 

tages  of  learning,  which  has  been,  in  every  age,  the  only 
road  to  wealth  and  honors  in  China.  At  fifteen,  those 
who  had  most  distinguished  themselves  were  sent  to 
higher  schools,  where  public  lectures  were  given  by 
learned  professors  on  the  laws  and  government  of  the 
empire,  and  such  subjects  as  were  best  calculated  to  fit 
them  for  offices  of  state,  to  which  those  who  attended 
these  schools  usually  aspired,  but  which  were  never 
bestowed  on  any  but  such  as  had  studied  profoundly 
and  given  proofs  of  their  knowledge.  Subordination, 
submission  to  the  laws,  to  parents  and  to  all  superiors, 
and  a peaceful  demeanor,  were  strictly  inculcated.  This 
instruction  has  continued  unchanged.  “ The  Chinese,” 
says  a modern  writer,  “teach  contempt  of  the  rude, 
instead  of  fighting  with  them ; and  the  man  who  unrea- 
sonably insults  another  has  public  opinion  against  him, 
whilst  he  who  bears  and  despises  the  affront  is  esteemed. 
A Chinese  would  stand  and  reason  with  a man,  when 
an  Englishman  would  knock  him  down,  or  an  Italian 
stab  him.  It  is  needless  to  say  which  is  the  more 
rational  mode  of  proceeding.” 

Among  the  arts  that  are  held  in  high  estimation 
among  the  Chinese  is  that  of  writing,  which  was  known 
at  so  distant  a period  of  their  history  that  it  must  have 
been  one  of  their  earliest  steps  in  civilization.  This  art, 
as  practiced  in  China,  is  rather  difficult  of  attainment, 
on  account  of  the  number  and  not  very  simple  forma- 
tion of  the  characters ; yet  it  was  rare  to  meet  even  with 
a poor  peasant  who  could  not  read  and  write,  for  rich 
and  poor  were  all  educated  alike,  in  the  manner  just 
described,  which  is  mentioned  as  “ the  ancient  system  ” 
in  books  that  were  written  more  than  two  thousand 


138 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


years  ago.  The  autographs  of  distinguished  men  are 
highly  prized. 

The  females  of  China,  from  the  empress  to  the  wife 
of  the  meanest  peasant,  practiced  the  spinning  and 
weaving  of  silk ; which  material,  from  the  earliest  times 
known,  was  used  for  clothing  by  the  poor  as  well  as  by 
the  rich,  for  the  same  reason  that  wool  was  used  by  the 
ancient  English — because  it  was  the  material  of  which 
they  had  the  greatest  abundance.  “ When  the  king  of 
France/’  says  Barrow,  “ introduced  the  luxury  of  silk 
stockings,  the  peasantry  of  the  middle  provinces  of 
China  were  clothed  in  silks  from  head  to  foot;  and 
when  the  nobility  of  England  were  sleeping  on  straw, 
a peasant  of  China  had  his  mat  and  his  pillow,  and  the 
man  in  office  enjoyed  his  silken  mattress.” 

The  empresses  of  those  days  were  as  zealous  in  pro- 
moting the  branches  of  industry  adapted  for  females  by 
their  own  example  as  were  the  emperors  in  encouraging 
agriculture  by  similar  means.  A plantation  of  mulberry 
trees  was  formed  within  the  gardens  of  the  palace,  and 
a house  built  purposely  for  rearing  the  worms,  which 
were  tended  by  the  ladies  of  the  court  and  often  fed  by 
the  fair  hands  of  royalty.  Every  autumn  a festival  was 
held  to  commemorate  the  invention  of  silk-weaving, 
when  the  empress,  attended  by  the  princesses  and  ladies 
of  her  train,  made  sacrifices  in  the  temple  of  the  Earth, 
and  then  proceeded  to  her  mulberry  grove,  where  she 
gathered  leaves  and  wound  the  cocoons  of  silk,  which 
were  afterward  spun  and  woven  by  her  own  hands 
into  small  webs.  These  were  carefully  preserved  for 
the  grand  spring  festival,  when  they  were  burned  in 
sacrifice. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


139 


Great  attention  was  bestowed  on  tbe  management  of 
silkworms  throughout  the  whole  of  the  empire ; and  as 
it  had  been  discovered  that  those  which  were  fed  on 
mulberry  leaves  produced  a finer  kind  of  silk  than  the 
common  worms  of  the  forest,  a law  was  made  by  one  of  the 
early  emperors  that  every  man  possessing  an  estate  of 
not  less  than  five  acres  should  plant  the  boundary  with 
mulberry  trees. 

The  difference  between  the  garments  of  the  higher 
and  lower  orders  consisted  in  the  quality  and  colors  of 
the  silks  of  which  they  were  'composed  and  the  fashion 
in  which  they  were  made.  The  robes  of  the  grandees 
were  often  richly  embroidered  with  gold  and  silver,  and 
ornamented  with  various  devices,  according  to  their  rank 
and  occupation.  The  dress  of  a literary  man  was  orna- 
mented with  a bird  worked  on  a square  of  black  silk  on 
the  breast,  or  with  the  figure  of  a tiger  or  some  other  ani- 
mal or  design;  and  these  are  among  the  innumerable 
customs  which  have  been  continued  from  that  time  to 
the  present. 

The  wars  among  the  princes,  and  the  efforts  of  some 
of  them  to  render  themselves  independent  of  the  em- 
peror, led  to  a vast  deal  of  disorderly  conduct  in  the 
several  states,  each  petty  sovereign  being  more  intent 
upon  his  own  aggrandizement  than  on  keeping  good 
order  among  his  people ; who,  finding  that  the  affairs  of 
government  were  neglected  and  the  laws  seldom  en- 
forced, paid  very  little  attention  to  them.  Such  was 
the  state  of  the  Chinese  empire  when  the  celebrated 
philosopher  Confucius  was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Lu, 
one  of  the  small  sovereignties  in  the  north  of  China. 
This  event  occurred  when  the  ancient  Greek  republics 


140 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


were  in  all  their  glory  and  Rome  was  just  beginning  to 
rise  into  power  and  greatness.  The  Greeks  and  Romans, 
however,  knew  little  or  nothing  of  China  at  that  time, 
nor  did  the  Chinese  imagine  there  was  any  truly  great 
empire  in  the  world  besides  their  own  ; an  opinion  they 
have  maintained  even  until  our  own  days. 

But  on  the  other  hand  it  is  manifest  from  the  remains 
of  great,  populous  and  magnificently-built  cities  which 
stretch  in  a chain  from  the  Mediterranean  sea  to  the 
countries  now  embraced  in  the  Chinese  empire,  from  the 
historic  legends  and  philology  of  the  nations  existing 
there,  and  from  hints  in  the  inspired  history  which  the 
holy  men  of  Palestine  have  given  us,  that  there  was  kept 
up  an  intercourse  by  caravans 1 across  the  continent,  and 
also  by  sea  between  the  western  and  eastern  sides  of  the 
continent.  The  silk,  the  cassia,  the  camphor,  the  broid- 
dered  work,  the  ivory,  the  porcelain  of  China,  were 
known  through  the  ages  of  the  old  Jewish  dispensation 
to  the  people  of  India,  Central  Asia  and  Phoenicia  and 
her  neighbors.  The  vessels  of  Solomon  and  Hiram, 
king  of  Tyre,  sailed  two  monsoons  eastward  and  two 
monsoons  back — a period  of  three  years — which  con- 
nected them  at  the  Indian  archipelago  with  the  com- 
merce which  in  like  manner  from  the  beginning  of 
history  has  vibrated  with  the  semiannual  monsoon  up 
and  down  the  China  sea.  The  prophet  Isaiah  (as  has 
been  shown  in  a previous  chapter)  looked  with  glowing 
hope  to  the  time  when  China,  multitudinous  and  vast, 
and  potential  in  Asia,  should  “come”  to  the  feet  of  Im- 
manuel as  her  Prince  and  Saviour. 


1 The  most  common  route  is  traced  by  A.  H.  Heeren  ; Historical  Researches, 
vol.  i.;  Babylonians,  chap,  ii.,  vol.  ii.;  Appendix  xiii.,  etc. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


141 


We  observe,  with  strengthened  confidence  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Great  King  over  all,  the  historical  fact 
that  the  philosopher  whose  life  marks  the  greatest  moral 
era  of  the  Chinese  people  was  raised  up  just  at  the 
period  when  the  Jewish  nation  was  sent  into  captivity 
to  Babylon,  and  when  thus  from  that  metropolis  of 
Asiatic  commerce,  science  and  religious  ideas  there 
began  to  stream  forth  to  the  most  distant  confines  of 
the  continent  the  light  of  the  clearer  revelation  of  God 
and  of  the  promise  of  a coming  Saviour. 

The  influence  of  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  upon  the 
literature  and  religious  systems  of  the  remoter  East  has 
long  been  a subject  of  the  deepest  interest.  We  observe 
the  most  distinct  marks  of  it  in  the  fragments  of  the  re- 
ligion of  Zoroaster,  the  great  philosopher  of  Persia ; in 
the  traditions  of  Bokhara,  Alfghanistan  and  Northern 
India ; in  the  apparent  hint  by  Confucius  of  “ a holy 
One  in  the  West in  the  continual  pilgrimages  of  the 
Chinese  in  that  direction  to  inquire  for  One  that  was  to 
come ; but  still  more  plainly  in  the  discovery  in  modern 
times  of  a colony  of  Jews  upon  the  Yellow  river,  in  the 
most  populous  part  of  China,  whose  accounts  of  them- 
selves prove  that  they  have  been  there  since  long  before 
Christ.  They  were  first  brought  to  light  by  Semedo 
and  Martini,  Jesuit  priests,  in  the  year  1625.  Within 
the  past  twenty  years  they  have  been  visited  several 
times  by  Protestant  missionaries  or  Chinese  members  of 
Protestant  churches;  and  some  of  them  in  turn  have 
visited  our  stations  on  the'  coast.  Some  of  their  chil- 
dren have  been  sent  to  our  schools  to  learn  of  Him  of 
whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  bore  witness.  Of  late 
years  they  have  become  very  poor,  ceased  some  of 


142 


THE  OLDEST  AXD  TRE  XEWEST  EMPIRE. 


their  ancient  observances,  and  seem  prepared  for  a 
change. 

It  is  calculated  to  fill  the  soul  of  the  thoughtful  stu- 
dent of  God’s  wavs  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  with 
awe  and  reverence  to  mark,  inscribed  upon  the  walls 
and  tablets  amidst  the  ancient  temples  upon  the  great 
river  of  the  north,  the  grand  and  solemn  declaration : 

“ Hear,  O Israel  ! The  Lord  our  God  is  oxe 
Lord. 

“ Blessed  be  the  name  of  His  glorious  kingdom; 

FOR  EVER  AXD  EVER.” 

Or  elsewhere  these  words  : 

“ UXSEARCHABLE  IS  HlS  XAME ; FOR  JEHOVAH  IS  THE 

God  of  gods.” 

What  a verse  is  the  following  in  the  Chinese,  to  meet 
the  eyes  of  the  worshipers  of  idols  1 — 

“ Raise  thine  eves  to  Heaven,  the  source  of  creation ; 

Canst  thou  refuse  to  render  solemn  praise  ? 

Or,  bowing  before  the  Lord  of  eternal  life, 

Should’st  thou  not  come  with  clean  body  and  a pure  heart  ?” 

At  what  time  this  Jewish  colony  reached  the  city  of 
Kai-fung,  where  now  they  reside,  their  traditions  do  not 
mention.  Xo  doubt  they  were  one  of  many  that  were 
either  pushed  forth  by  the  oppressions  of  the  Persians 
or  attracted  by  the  fame  of  the  wealth  and  grandeur  of 
China,  and  were  distributed  at  various  times  into  differ- 
ent portions  of  what  are  now  the  territories  or  provinces 
of  the  Chinese  empire.  This  colony  seems  to  have 
known  nothing  of  the  fact  of  the  advent  and  atonement 
of  Christ  or  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  They 
“ ate  not  of  the  sinew  which  shrank,  which  is  upon  the 
hollow  of  the  thigh,  unto  this  day ; because  God  touched 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


143 


the  hollow  of  Jacob’s  thigh  in  the  sinew  that  shrank.”1 
They  have  always  kept  the  passover;  and  it  is  only 
within  two  centuries  past  that  they  have  neglected  to 
circumcise  their  children.  Large  portions  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  Hebrew,  written  with  the  Masoretic  points, 
have  been  obtained  from  their  rabbis. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a part  of  the  purpose  of  the 
great  Governor  of  nations  in  the  “ captivity  in  Babylon” 
that  the  Jews  should  be  dispersed  over  the  East  as  wit- 
nesses of  the  approaching  kingdom  of  his  Son.  In  all 
the  “hundred  and  twenty  and  seven  provinces”  of  the 
empire,  “ from  India  even  unto  Ethiopia,”  “ to  the  rulers 
of  every  people  of  every  province,  according  to  the 
writing  thereof,  and  to  every  people  after  their  language, 
in  the  name  of  King  Ahasuerus,”  were  written  the  won- 
derful works  of  the  Almighty.  And  before  any  distinct 
colonies  of  the  Jews  could  have  made  their  homes  in 
China  some  knowledge  of  them  must  have  been  carried 
thither.  A remarkable  evidence  of  the  expectations  of 
the  Jews  of  Palestine  and  Egypt  in  regard  to  the  return 
of  their  brethren  then  in  China,  and  of  the  conversion 
of  that  nation  to  the  Messiah,  it  is  probable  may  be  seen 
in  the  Septuagint  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  In  that 
version,  made  in  Egypt  at  the  desire  of  King  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  nearly  three  centuries  before  Christ,  by 
seventy  of  the  most  learned  Jews,  the  words,  “ These 
shall  come  from  the  land  of  Sinim,”  which  modern  en- 
lightened criticism  supposes  means  China,  and  which  they 
knew  most  probably  did  so  mean,  they  chose  to  render 
into  the  Greek  by  the  substitute,  “ These  shall  come  from 
the  land  of  the  Persians.”  Their  purpose  seems  to  have 

1>Gen.  xxxii.  32. 


144 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


been  to  include  tbe  remotest  East,  all  of  which  the  Per- 
sians claimed  as  their  possessions,  and  to  signify  that,  as 
some  of  their  brethren  were  known  to  have  been  driven 
to  that  distant  empire  by  the  God  of  all  the  earth,  so 
thence  also  would  He,  according  to  his  promise,  bring 
them  finally  back  again. 

The  age  of  Confucius  was  the  great  turning-point  in 
Chinese  history.  He  was  to  Eastern  Asia  what  Luther 
was  to  Western  Europe — the  great  harbinger  of  the  de- 
parture of  an  old,  corrupt  and  iron  age,  and  of  the  advent 
of  a new,  thinking,  progressive,  silver  age.  Or  we  might 
compare  the  new  era  of  Chinese  history  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Han  dynasty  (249  B.  C.)  to  that  of  the 
Homan  empire  in  the  Augustan  age. 

These  statements  seem  necessary  as  preliminary  to 
some  account  of  Confucius  himself. 

The  proper  name  of  this  greatest  philosopher  of  the 
Oriental  world  was  Kung  Chung-ni,  the  first,  according 
to  the  Chinese  order,  being  the  family  name.  He  is 
popularly  styled  Kung  Fu-tsz;  the  last  word  is  a title 
which  we  may  translate  “ doctor,”  or  “ professor.”  The 
French  missionaries  have  given  us  the  Latin  form  of  this 
title,  Confucius.  He  was  born  about  550  B.  C.,  and  was 
nearly  contemporaneous  with  the  Jewish  prophet  Daniel. 
He  was  the  only  son  of  a lady  of  illustrious  family,  if 
not  of  royal  rank.  His  father,  who  had  several  other 
sons  by  another  wife,  held  a high  government  employ- 
ment, but  dying  some  three  years  after  his  birth,  seems 
to  have  left  the  future  philosopher  very  indifferently 
provided  for.  He  was  a native  of  what  is  now  Shan- 
tung, in  the  north-east  corner  of  the  empire,  the  province 
where  he  grew  up.  In  his  nineteenth  year  he  married, 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


145 


but  divorced  his  wife  after  she  had  borne  him  a son. 
The  Chinese  tell  marvelous  stories  of  his  love  of  study 
when  a child  and  of  his  early  proficiency.  They  also 
record  a little  fact  which  may  interest  phrenologists — 
namely,  that  Confucius’  head  was  remarkable  for  the 
elevation  of  its  crown. 

His  object  in  acquiring  knowledge  was  to  turn  it  to 
the  purposes  of  moral  reform  and  good  government. 
"When  he  thought  himself  sufficiently  qualified  to  in- 
struct the  age  in  which  he  lived,  he  quitted  his  solitude 
for  populous  cities  and  the  courts  of  princes  and  rulers. 
China  was  not  then  united  and  governed  by  one  emperor 
as  now.  When  Confucius  began  his  mission  there  were 
many  independent  kings.  The  Chinese  were  not  then 
more  pacific  than  the  rest  of  mankind.  King  warred 
against  king,  and  every  part  of  the  Celestial  Empire  was 
in  its  turn  deluged  with  blood.  Not  long  before  the 
birth  of  the  philosophical  reformer  the  horrors  of  inter- 
nal war  had  been  increased  by  some  of  the  belligerents 
calling  in  the  foreign  aid  of  the  Tartars,  but  at  the  pe- 
riod when  he  commenced  his  travels  a powerful  interna- 
tional confederacy  had  been  formed,  and  China  was 
comparatively  tranquil. 

He  made  a progress  through  the  different  states,  giv- 
ing public  lectures  on  the  benefit  of  virtue  and  social 
order,  which  produced  such  good  effects  that  in  a short 
time  he  was  at  the  head  of  about  three  thousand  disci- 
ples, who  were  converts  to  his  doctrines  and  practiced 
the  rules  he  laid  down  for  their  conduct.  His  fame  in- 
creased with  his  years.  He  now  visited  the  different 
princes,  and  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  them  to  estab- 
lish a wise  and  peaceful  administration  in  their  respect- 
10 


w 


146 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


ive  territories.  His  wisdom  and  birth  recommended  him 
to  the  patronage  of  the  kings ; he  was  anxious  to  apply 
his  theory  to  practical  government,  hut  he  had  to  learn 
by  sad  experience  that  his  designs  must  frequently  be 
thwarted.  After  many  changes  and  disappointments,  he 
became  prime  minister  in  his  native  country,  Lu,  when 
fifty-five  years  of  age.  By  his  influence  and  his  prudent 
measures  the  state  of  the  kingdom  underwent  a thorough 
change  within  the  space  of  three  years.  It  is  said  that 
while  he  continued  in  power  justice  was  so  well  admin- 
istered that  if  gold  or  jewels  were  dropped  on  the  high- 
way they  would  remain  untouched  until  the  rightful 
owner  appeared  to  claim  them.  But  the  corrupt  influ- 
ences communicated  from  the  neighboring  kingdom  of 
Tsi  were  the  means  of  staying  the  progress  of  reform- 
ation, and  at  length  of  compelling  the  departure  of 
Confucius. 

He  was  repulsed  at  three  different  courts  to  which  he 
applied  for  office  in  order  that  he  might  improve  the 
morals  of  the  people  ; and  after  many  other  wanderings 
and  disappointments  he  went  into  the  kingdom  of  Chin, 
where  he  spent  some  time  in  grief.  From  Chin  he  went 
again  to  Lu,  and  vainly  solicited  to  be  re-employed  in 
the  government  of  that  state.  Meanwhile,  war  had 
again  broken  out  among  the  rival  kingdoms.  Is  ot  being 
able  to  rule,  or  to  make  people  virtuous,  peaceful  and 
happy,  Confucius  devoted  himself  entirely  to  philosophy, 
and  the  composition  of  those  works  which  have  rendered 
his  name  immortal,  and  the  precepts  of  which,  even  to 
this  day,  regulate  both  the  government  and  the  religion 
of  the  state.  His  system  perhaps  may  be  more  properly 
termed  one  of  morality  than  of  religion,  as  it  is  intended  to 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


147 


inculcate  the  duties  of  men  toward  each  other,  rather 
than  those  which  they  owe  to  a superior  being.  The 
Confucians  speak  of  Heaven  as  supreme,  which,  if  it 
mean  the  great  Creator,  does  so  only  in  a vague  and  im- 
personal sense,  and  they  adore  the  earth  as  the  mother 
of  all  things ; but  they  have  no  regular  priesthood,  their 
religious  rites  consisting  solely  of  sacrifices  made  in 
the  temples  on  stated  occasions,  when  the  emperor  offici- 
ates as  high  priest  and  the  chief  officials  of  the  court 
as  his  subordinates.  The  reformation  in  which  Confu- 
cius was  the  prime  mover  consisted  mainly  in  the  new 
force  given  to  the  idea  of  the  parental  relation,  in  found- 
ing firmly  upon  this  theory  the  whole  structure  of  the 
government,  and  in  the  higher  and  purer  motives  infused 
into  the  mutual  obligations  of  society  and  into  the  acts 
of  religion.  The  books  of  Confucius,  which  are  univer- 
sally studied  by  the  Chinese  as  sacred  volumes,  teach 
them  that  the  true  principles  of  virtue  and  social  order 
are,  obedience  to  parents,  and  so  representatively  to 
elders  and  rulers ; and  the  not  acting  toward  others  as 
they  would  wish  that  others  should  not  act  toward  them. 
In  the  works  of  this  great  moralist  the  duties  of  the 
sovereign  are  as  strictly  laid  down  as  those  of  his  sub- 
jects; and  while  they  are  enjoined  to  obey  him  as  a 
father,  he  is  exhorted  to  take  care  of  them  as  though 
they  were  his  children.  There  was  nothing  absolutely 
new  in  this  patriarchal  system  of  government,  which  had 
existed  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  monarchy ; but 
it  was  brought  into  a more  perfect  form,  and  the  mutual 
obligations  of  princes  and  people  were  more  clearly 
defined  than  they  had  ever  been  before.  But  it  was  not 
only  on  the  government  of  the  empire  collectively  that 


148 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


this  celebrated  teacher  bestowed  his  attention ; he  also 
stated  laws  for  private  families,  founded  on  the  same 
principle  of  obedience  from  the  younger  to  the  elder 
and  submission  from  the  inferior  to  the  superior.  In- 
deed, all  classes  of  persons,  including  even  young  chil- 
dren, were  instructed  in  the  duties  of  their  several 
stations.  Through  his  rigid  principles,  and  firm,  uncom- 
promising practice  of  them,  the  philosopher  gained 
many  enemies.  His  life  was  more  than  once  in  danger, 
and  his  death  was  saddened  with  the  spectacle  of  the 
wretched  state  of  his  country,  and  the  apparent  fruit- 
lessness of  his  labors.  The  vital  defects  in  the  doct- 
rines of  Confucius  are  those  of  all  human  wisdom. 
The  great  teacher  could  show  with  wonderful  distinct- 
ness the  offenses  of  man  against  heaven,  society,  and 
self ; but  he  could  point  his  disciples  to  no  way  of 
reparation  of  wrrong,  pardon  of  sin,  and  reconciliation 
with  a just  Ruler  of  the  universe.  He  could  teach 
truth,  right,  and  duty ; but  not  impart  a will  to 
choose  and  the  strength  to  obey  them.  This  is  the 
revelation  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.” 

The  envy  and  hatred  of  his  contemporaries  soon 
passed  away,  and  his  disciples  succeeded  in  erecting 
Confucius  and  his  philosophy  as  the  great  objects  of 
national  veneration.  When  the  empire  was  amalga- 
mated and  peace  restored,  his  works,  which  had  largely 
contributed  to  that  happy  issue,  were  looked  upon  as  of 
paramount  authority,  and  to  mutilate  or  in  any  way  to 
alter  their  sense  was  held  a crime  deserving  of  condign 
punishment.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  brevity  and 
obscurity  of  the  language  rendered  alterations  and  mis- 
takes of  the  sense  numerous  and  inevitable.  Though 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


149 


lie  had  been  left  to  conclude  his  life  in  poverty  and 
neglect,  the  greatest  honors  and  privileges  were  heaped 
upon  his  descendants,  who  still  exist,  and  may  be  called 
the  only  hereditary  nobility  of  China.  In  all  the  revo- 
lutions that  have  happened  their  privileges  have  been 
respected ; every  male  of  them  holds  by  birth  an  hon- 
orary rank,  and  they  are  all  exempted  from  the  payment 
of  taxes. 

The  writings  of  Confucius  are  chiefly  on  the  subject 
of  moral  philosophy ; but  there  are  among  them  two 
books  which  may  be  considered  historical — the  one  re- 
lating to  his  own,  and  the  other  to  more  ancient  times. 
From  the  former — the  Chun-tsiu,  literally  “ Spring  and 
Autumn,”  or  “Annals” — is  gathered  all  that  is  known  of 
the  state  of  the  country  at  that  period.  The  latter  is  re- 
garded more  as  traditionary  than  as  historical,  for  it  is 
supposed  to  be  merely  a collection  and  arrangement  of 
the  records  kept  at  the  courts  of  the  early  monarchs  by 
their  historians ; this  is  the  Shu-king,  or  “ Book  of  His- 
tory.” The  Shi-king,  or  “ Book  of  Odes,”  contains  ancient 
poems  and  songs,  which  used  to  be  sung  or  recited  be- 
fore the  emperors,  the  compositions  of  patriotic  bards 
who  celebrated  in  verse  the  great  and  good  actions  of 
the  heroes  and  sages.  These  traditional  poems  were 
collected  and  revised  by  Confucius,  who  formed  them 
into  a volume,  which  is  still  one  of  the  standard  works 
of  the  Chinese,  and  must  be  studied  by  all  who  aspire  to 
preferment,  as  it  forms  the  subject  of  a part  of  their  ex- 
amination ere  they  can  be  admitted  as  candidates  for  any 
high  office.  The  same  great  man  formed  into  a ritual 
all  the  ancient  observances,  both  in  public  and  private 
life,  being  of  opinion  that  the  preservation  of  order  in  a 


150 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


state  depended  much  upon  the  outward  forms  of  society 
in  general.  This  “Book  of  Bites ” regulates  the  cere- 
monial observances  of  the  whole  community,  from  the 
emperor  to  the  most  obscure  of  his  subjects,  and  it  has 
maintained  its  influence  from  that  time  to  the  present  in 
forming  the  manners  of  the  people.  The  study  of  this 
hook  constitutes  an  important  branch  of  the  education 
of  every  Chinese.  Confucius  spent  the  whole  of  his 
long  life  in  the  practice  and  teaching  of  virtue.  Two 
thousand  four  hundred  years  have  elapsed  since  his 
death,  and  yet  his  name  continues  to  be  held  in  as  much 
veneration  as  ever  throughout  the  Chinese  empire ; and 
although  he  did  not  pretend  to  divine  inspiration  like 
Mohammed,  or  profess  to  be  endowed  with  more  than 
human  attributes,  he  is  worshiped  as  a superior  being, 
and  many  temples  are  dedicated  to  him  in  all  the  prov- 
inces of  China.  The  learned  and  refined  are,  however, 
careful  to  distinguish  the  worship  which  they  render  to 
Confucius  from  that  offered  by  the  common  people  to 
the  Buddhist  and  other  idols.  They  never  employ  in  it 
an  image  or  picture  of  the  philosopher,  but  write  his 
name,  with  some  eulogistic  titles,  as  the  “ most  holy”  or 
“ wise,”  on  a tablet  of  wood  several  inches  in  length  and  a 
third  as  wide,  and  before  that  present  their  oblations  and 
bow  themselves  to  the  earth.  The  Jesuits  in  China 
maintained  long  and  bitter  discussions  with  the  Domin- 
icans and  some  other  missionaries  in  behalf  of  the  per- 
mission of  the  worship  to  Confucius  among  their  con- 
verts. They  were  willing  to  sanction  it  because  it  pro- 
cured them  the  favor  of  the  learned  and  powerful  class 
of  the  empire,  and  also  the  worship  of  ancestors,  which  was 
most  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  whole  people. 


TIIE  PATRIARCHAL  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


151 


The  Tibetan,  the  Buddhist  and  other  idolatries  have 
divided  influence  with  the  system  of. Confucius,  but  have 
never  overthrown  its  empire.  All  classes,  from  the  em- 
peror on  the  throne  to  the  poor  mariner  on  board  the 
junk,  burn  gilt  paper  and  offer  sacrifices  to  wooden  idols, 
practice  incantations  and  offer  up  prayers  to  countless 
false  gods,  but  at  the  same  time  they  revere  the  name  of 
Confucius,  and  the  more  enlightened  of  the  nation  pre- 
tend to  be  chiefly  guided  by  his  merely  philosophical 
dictates.  The  mass  of  his  laws  and  instructions  is  still 
followed  to  the  letter  by  Chinese,  Japanese,  Coreans, 
Cochin- Chinese  and  other  people,  who,  taken  collect- 
ively, will  probably  exceed  five  hundred  millions  of 
souls. 

If  Christianity  had  nothing  else  in  its  favor  than  the 
elevation  of  the  female  condition  and  character,  it  ought 
to  be  revered  as  the  purest  and  best  of  faiths.  Confu- 
cius, like  other  Eastern  lawgivers  that  preceded  or  fol- 
lowed him,  has  said  little  that  is  designed  to  elevate 
woman,  or  to  inspire  in  man  proper  sentiments  with  re- 
gard to  her  position  and  influence  in  society.  The 
worthy  Protestant  missionary,  Gutzlaff,  remarks,  “ We 
regret  to  say  that  he  treats  women  and  the  duties  of 
husbands  toward  their  wives  very  slightly.  By  not 
giving  a proper  rank  in  society  to  females — by  denying 
to  them  the  privileges  which  are  their  due  as  sisters, 
mothers,  wives  and  daughters,  the  more  sensitive  and 
devoted  part  of  our  kind — he  has  marred  the  harmony 
of  social  life  and  put  a barrier  against  the  improvement 
of  society.” 

There  was  something  in  the  system  of  Confucius  cal- 
culated to  carry  the  Chinese  to  a pitch  of  learning  and 


152 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


civilization  beyond  the  other  nations  of  Eastern  Asia. 
After  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  when  all 
Europe  was  involved  in  the  darkness  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  China  might  be  considered  as  the  greatest  and 
most  civilized  kingdom  upon  earth.  But,  one  by  one, 
all  the  countries  in  the  West  awoke  to  a second  dawn, 
and  they  have  generally  continued  to  improve  ever  since, 
while  China  has  remained  comparatively  stationary. 
The  peculiarity  and  difficulty  of  the  language  of  the 
Chinese ; the  geographical  situation  of  their  country ; 
the  fact  that  for  many  centuries  their  neighbors  and  the 
only  people  they  had  frequent  intercourse  with  were 
rude  barbarians,  that  could  suggest  no  improvement 
and  no  comparison,  except  such  as  was  most  flattering 
to  themselves,  have  further  tended  to  make  them  remain 
perfectly  satisfied  with  the  state  of  excellence  in  civil 
polity,  arts  and  literature  at  which  they  had  arrived,  and 
to  produce  their  past  inflexible  and  self-complacent  at- 
tachment to  the  ideas  of  ancient  times.  But  a change  is 
coming  over  the  empire  since  it  has  been  humbled  by 
the  late  foreign  wars,  and  since  the  light  of  Western  re- 
ligion and  science  has  begun  to  penetrate  it,  which  it 
will  be  our  place  to  exhibit  in  another  portion  of  the 
present  volume. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


* 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 

rTHE  Augustan  age  of  Rome  was  the  period  of  her 
greatest  power  and  renown.  It  was  the  boast  of  her 
people  then  that  her  armies  had  conquered  the  world. 
The  Christian  Church  is  accustomed  to  regard  the  ex- 
tension of  the  dominion  of  Rome  over  the  nations  as 
one  principal  preparation  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah 
and  the  universal  preaching  of  the  gospel.  This  is  no 
doubt  true.  But  it  is  a remarkable  evidence  of  man’s 
limited  knowledge  of  the  providence  of  the  Most  High 
that  there  was  at  the  same  period  an  empire  equally  ex- 
tended and  powerful  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe. 
The  simultaneous  existence  of  these  empires,  each  so 
little  acquainted  with  the  other,  is  like  that  wonder  of 
the  heavens  created  by  the  moon’s  revolving  round  the 
earth  in  exactly  the  same  time  in  which  it  revolves  upon 
its  own  axis,  so  presenting  to  the  gaze  of  the  human  race 
from  age  to  age  precisely  the  same  surface.  The  oppo- 
site side  of  our  satellite  is  as  well  lighted  by  the  sun, 
and  no  doubt  corresponds  with  that  which  we  look  upon 
in  its  physical  character.  But  if  it  be  peopled  by  any 
intelligent  beings,  they  have  never  yet  seen,  from  any 
of  those  opposite  lands,  the  great  world  around  which 

153 


154 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


they  unconsciously  revolve.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  any  inhabitant  of  our  earth  ever  beheld  that  mys- 
terious hemisphere  of  theirs  which  is  turned  so  con- 
stantly away  from  us. 

And  so  it  seems  to  have  been  with  much  of  the  his- 
tory of  our  world,  which  has  moved  on  from  age  to  age, 
the  one  and  the  other  of  its  two  great  sides  each 
knowing  so  little  of  that  which  was  opposite.  The  side 
which  we  see  is  what  lies  westward  of  the  region  where 
man  was  created,  where  revelation  was  bestowed  and 
where  Jesus  Christ  died.  "Westward  the  course  of 
empire  has  moved  for  us.  But  there  is  another  side  of 
the  globe  whither  at  least  equal  colonies  of  mankind  at 
first  advanced;  where  God’s  providence  has  been  full  as 
beneficent ; where  some  of  his  moral  precepts  have  been 
on  the  whole  better  kept ; where  he  as  mightily  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  manifestation  of  the  knowledge 
of  his  Son  ; where  it  is  not  improbable  the  preaching  of 
the  apostles  was  originally  as  successful ; and  where, 
though,  as  in  many  portions  of  Europe  and  America, 
the  truth  has  been  forgotten,  yet  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve the  triumphs  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  will 
be  as  glorious  as  we  anticipate  they  will  be  amidst  the 
nations  of  the  West. 

We  read  of  the  preparation  of  the  world  for  the 
advent  of  the  Saviour  by  the  extension  of  the  Greek 
and  Boman  empires,  and  their  influence  upon  the  civil- 
ization of  the  West ; but  it  is  not  observed  by  historians 
that  the  preparation  of  the  East  for  the  same  event  was 
as  distinct  and  complete.  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of 
the  present  volume  to  trace  this  parallel  at  length.  But 
we  are  at  a point  where  it  may  be  mentioned,  and  where 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


155 


a few  of  the  more  remarkable  particulars  may  be  grouped 
together. 

As  the  Greeks  spread  over  the  West  a “ wisdom” 
which  prepared  it  for  the  “ power”  of  the  Romans,  so 
the  philosophy  of  Confucius,  who  wonderfully  resem- 
bled Socrates  in  many  respects,  prepared  China  for  the 
conquests  of  the  Han  dynasty.  The  Punic  wars  and  the 
downfall  of  Carthage  in  the  third  century  before  Christ 
were  an  advance  toward  the  consolidation  of  society  and 
the  formation  of  the  imperial  power;  and  at  the  same 
period  we  see  the  states  of  China  first  united  in  one  great 
empire.  Civil  wars  had  prevailed  in  each  of  these  two 
portions  of  the  world.  Peace  reigned,  it  is  commonly 
said,  just  at  the  birth  of  Christ,  so  that,  as  a sign  of  it, 
at  Rome  the  temple  of  Janus  was  shut.  In  China  it  is 
remarkable  that  the  name  of  the  monarch  who  sat  upon 
the  throne  was  Ping-ti,  which  means  the  emperor,  or 
prince,  of  peace.  In  the  West,  the  magi  of  Persia, 
moved  by  the  universal  expectation,  went  westward  to 
seek  the  new-born  King.  In  China,  within  the  same 
century,  a royal  commission  was  sent  toward  the  same 
quarter  to  inquire  for  “ a holy  One”  that  was  to  arise ; 
and  this  was  the  sad  occasion  of  the  introduction  of 
Buddhism,  whose  priests  imposed  upon  the  members 
of  it  the  statement  that  the  religious  founder  of  the 
sect — a Hindu  prince — was  the  one  whose  doctrines 
would  satisfy  their  spiritual  longings. 

The  founder  of  the  first  general  dynasty,  which  dates 
from  the  year  249  B.  C.,  was  Chi  Hwang-ti.  He  had 
been  a prince  or  king  of  the  Tsin,  a powerful  state  in 
the  north-west.  He  conquered  the  neighboring  states  in 
succession,  and  at  length  established  his  dominion  over 


156 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  most  of  the  territory  now  embraced  in  the  empire 
proper.  The  name  Tsin  was  given  to  the  very  brief  but 
memorable  dynasty  which  he  established. 

When  Chi  Hwang-ti  had  subdued  all  the  petty 
princes,  he  turned  his  arms  against  the  Tartars,  who 
had  become  very  troublesome  neighbors,  making  frequent 
hostile  incursions  into  the  Chinese  territories.  They  were 
portions  of  the  same  general  people  who  in  European 
history  are  called  Huns  and  Turks.  They  consisted  of 
numerous  tribes,  who  wandered  about  the  barren  plains 
of  Central  Asia,  living  partly  by  hunting  and  partly  by 
plunder ; and  as  they  were  a much  more  warlike  people 
than  the  Chinese,  they  were  enemies  very  greatly  to  be 
dreaded.  The  emperor  therefore  devised  a plan  to  keep 
off  their  invasions  by  erecting  a wall  along  the  whole 
extent  of  the  northern  frontier,  of  such  a height,  thick- 
ness and  solidity  as  to  be  proof  against  any  attempts 
which  might  be  made  either  to  scale  or  to  effect  a breach 
in  it. 

In  order  to  obtain  a sufficient  number  of  workmen  for 
so  vast  an  undertaking  as  the  building  of  the  Great 
Wall,  the  emperor  ordered  that  every  third  laboring 
man  throughout  the  empire  should  be  compelled  to  enter 
his  service,  and  they  were  forced  to  labor  like  slaves, 
without  receiving  any  compensation  beyond  a bare  sup- 
ply of  food.  The  wall  extended  fifteen  hundred  miles, 
from  the  gulf  of  Liau-tung,  an  arm  of  the  Yellow  sea, 
to  the  most  western  province  of  Kansuh.  It  was  carried 
over  the  highest  mountains,  through  the  deepest  valleys, 
and,  by  means  of  arches,  across  the  rivers.  Its  breadth 
was  sufficient  to  allow  of  six  horsemen  riding  abreast  on 
its  summit,  and  it  was  fortified  by  strong  towers,  built  at 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


157 


short  distances  apart,  in  ■which  guards  were  stationed. 
The  exterior  was  formed  of  stone  and  brickwork  of  the 
most  solid  construction,  which  was  filled  in  with  earth, 
so  as  to  render  it  impenetrable ; and  the  whole  was  fin- 
ished in  the  short  space  of  five  years. 

Such  is  the  account  generally  given  of  the  Great  Wall 
of  China,  which  has  now  stood  for  two  thousand  years, 
and  has  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world.  Dr.  Johnson  was  accustomed  to  say  of  it  that  it 
would  be  an  honor  to  any  man  to  be  able  to  say  that  his 
grandfather  had  seen  the  Great  Wall  of  China.  Lord 
Macartney  exclaimed  on  seeing  it  that  it  was  certainly 
the  most  stupendous  work  of  human  hands,  and  he 
rationally  concluded  that  at  the  remote  period  of  its 
building,  China  must  have  been  a very  powerful  and 
civilized  empire.  Mr.  Barrow,  who  saw  it  with  Lord 
Macartney,  went  into  some  amusing  calculations  as  to 
the  quantity  of  materials  it  contains.  According  to  his 
account,  all  the  materials  of  all  the  dwelling-houses  of 
England  and  Scotland,  supposing  them  at  that  period 
(the  end  of  the  last  century)  to  amount  to  1,800,000, 
and  to  average  2000  cubic  feet  of  brickwork  or  masonry, 
would  be  barely  equivalent  to  the  bulk  of  the  wall, 
without  taking  in  its  fortresses  and  towers,  which  he 
calculated  contained  as  much  masonry  and  brickwork  as 
all  London  did  at  that  time.  The  eastern  termination 
of  the  wall  has  been  often  visited  by  foreign  vessels  since 
the  treaty  of  Tien-tsin  and  the  opening  of  the  port  of 
Niu-chwang,  to  the  north  of  it,  to  trade  with  us.  The 
descriptions  of  it  corroborate  the  accounts  of  it  by  pre- 
vious travelers.  Stupendous  as  was  the  work,  we  shall 
presently  see  that  it  failed  in  its  object. 


158 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chi  Hwang-ti,  a title  which  literally  signifies  the  “ first 
emperor/’  seems  to  have  been  extremely  ambitious  of 
fame ; for  although  he  had  rendered  his  name  immortal 
by  the  work  just  described,  he  aspired  to  still  higher 
renown,  and  even  entertained  the  vain-glorious  desire 
that  his  name  should  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  the 
founder  of  the  Chinese  monarchy.  But  there  was  a 
great  obstacle  to  the  attainment  of  this  end  which  none 
but  the  veriest  tyrant  would  have  thought  of  removing ; 
and  that  was  the  existence  of  a vast  number  of  books 
wherein  might  be  read  the  histories  of  those  who  had 
reigned  before  him.  The  emperor,  however,  was  one  of 
those  who  would  sacrifice  everything  which  stands 
between  them  and  the  object  on  which  they  have  set 
their  hearts ; therefore  he  issued  a peremptory  order 
that  all  books  and  writings  of  every  description  should 
be  collected  and  burned  by  the  magistrates  of  each  dis- 
trict throughout  the  whole  empire ; and  the  decree  was 
so  strictly  enforced  that  many  literary  men  were  put  to 
death  for  being  detected  in  attempts  to  save  valuable 
records. 

But  the  tyrant  whose  mischievous  ambition  had 
tempted  him  to  commit  such  an  act  of  madness  missed 
the  end  he  had  in  view ; for,  in  spite  of  all  his  precau- 
tions, several  copies  of  the  works  of  Confucius  and  some 
other  eminent  authors  were  hidden  behind  the  walls  and 
under  the  floors  of  different  houses,  where  they  remained 
until  the  death  of  the  emperor  rendered  it  safe  to  bring 
them  again  to  light. 

It  is  somewhere  related  of  this  same  prince  that  when 
dying  he  commanded  that  his  favorite  wife  and  a num- 
ber of  slaves  should  be  buried  with  him.  This  dreadful 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


159 


custom  had  existed  in  the  barbarous  ages,  and  was  com- 
mon among  the  Tartars  and  Hindus,  not  only  at  the 
death  of  princes,  but  also  at  those  of  all  classes  of  the 
people,  from  a superstitious  belief  that  the  wives  and 
domestics  thus  interred  would  pass  with  the  deceased 
into  the  next  world  and  be  ready  to  attend  upon  him 
there.  With  the  same  idea  the  Chinese  used  in  latter 
times  to  bury  clothes,  furniture,  and  even  food,  for  the 
use  of  the  departed,  with  a number  of  effigies  in  the 
likeness  of  slaves ; and  this  custom  has  been  continued 
down  to  the  present  time — with  this  difference,  that  most 
of  the  articles  now  sacrificed  are  made  of  paper ; mil- 
lions of  bundles  being  consumed  annually  in  these 
superstitious  rites.  The  revolting  practice  of  immolating 
human  beings  had,  however,  been  so  long  out  of  date 
that  it  is  mentioned  in  reference  to  this  period  as  a relic 
of  the  barbarism  of  distant  ages. 

Chi  Hwang-ti  appointed  his  eldest  son  to  succeed  him ; 
a case  of  rare  occurrence.  The  custom  of  bestowing 
territories  on  the  princes  of  the  royal  family  was  abol- 
ished by  Chi  Hwang-ti,  who  saw  that  these  petty 
sovereignties  were  sure  to  occasion  civil  warfare.  He 
therefore  provided  for  his  family  by  giving  to  each  of 
his  immediate  male  relatives  a palace  in  one  of  the  great 
cities,  with  a suitable  maintenance,  and  the  privilege  of 
wearing  yellow,  which  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  the  imperial 
color,  and,  as  a distinctive  mark  of  rank,  is  highly  valued. 
A yellow  girdle  has  a greater  degree  of  importance  in 
China  than  a blue  ribbon  in  Europe.  It  is  always  a sign 
that  the  wearer  is  nearly  related  to  the  emperor.  The 
prince  chosen  by  Chi  Hwang-ti  as  his  successor  happen- 
ing to  be  absent  at  the  time  of  his  father’s  death,  a younger 


160 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


son  took  advantage  of  the  circumstance  to  seize  on  the 
sovereignty,  and  contrived  to  have  his  brother  secretly 
strangled.  But  the  usurper  did  not  long  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  crime,  for  he  made  himself  so  unpopular  by 
neglecting  the  affairs  of  the  state  and  attending  to  nothing 
but  his  own  pleasures,  that  a formidable  insurrection 
broke  out  in  the  country,  headed  by  the  chief  of  a band 
of  freebooters,  named  Liu-pang,  a man  distinguished  by 
many  noble  qualities,  although  he  was  no  better  than  a 
robber.  It  is  related  of  this  adventurer  that  just  after 
the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  he  happened  to  meet  a 
fortune-teller  on  the  road,  who,  falling  at  his  feet,  said 
he  offered  him  this  mark  of  homage  because  he  saw  by 
the  lines  in  his  face  that  he  was  destined  shortly  to  be- 
come emperor.  In  making  this  prediction  the  sooth- 
sayer no  doubt  foresaw  the  probability  of  its  accom- 
plishment, for  it  was  not  an  unlikely  termination  of  the 
rebellion  that  the  leader,  if  successful,  should  be  placed 
on  the  throne ; with  this  belief,  therefore,  the  stranger 
followed  up  his  prophecy  by  offering  his  only  daughter 
in  marriage  to  the  chief.  Liu-pang  accepted  the  pro- 
posal and  married  the  lady,  who  was  thus,  by  her 
father’s  artifice,  raised  to  the  dignity  of  empress ; for, 
after  many  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  in  which 
the  lawful  emperor  lost  his  life,  the  insurgents  were  vic- 
torious and  their  leader  was  raised  to  the  imperial 
throne. 

The  new  sovereign  was  a native  of  the  kingdom  of 
Han,  one  of  those  small  states  into  which  the  empire 
had  formerly  been  divided ; therefore  he  is  called  the 
founder  of  the  Han  dynasty.  The  princes  of  his  race 
occupied  the  throne  for  more  than  four  centuries.  The 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


161 


first  of  the  race  obtained  the  sovereignty  two  hundred 
and  two  years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  commenced 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  periods  of  Chinese  history. 
In  spite  of  the  Great  Wall,  the  Tartars  continued  their 
predatory  warfare,  aud  sorely  disquieted  the  more  pol- 
ished and  peaceful  Chinese,  who  vainly  attempted  to 
propitiate  them  with  alliances  and  tribute.  The  first 
emperors  of  this  race  endeavored  to  make  friends  of  the 
great  Tartar  chiefs  by  giving  them  their  daughters  in 
marriage.  A native  historian  of  the  period  exclaims : 
“ Our  disgrace  could  not  be  exceeded : from  this  time 
China  lost  her  honor!”  In  the  reign  of  Yuen-ti,  the 
ninth  emperor,  the  Tartars  having  been  provoked  by 
the  punishment  inflicted  by  the  Chinese  on  two  of  their 
chiefs,  who  had  transgressed  the  boundaries  of  the  Great 
Wall  while  engaged  in  hunting,  the  empire  was  again 
invaded  by  the  “ erratic  nations,”  and  a princess  was 
demanded  and  yielded  in  marriage.  These  incidents 
form  the  subject  of  one  of  the  hundred  plays  of  Yuen,  an 
English  version  of  which  was  printed  in  London  under 
the  name  of  the  “ Sorrows  of  Han.”  The  impolitic  sys- 
tem of  buying  off  the  barbarians,  which  commenced  thus 
early,  led  many  centuries  afterward  to  the  total  over- 
throw of  the  empire  by  the  Tartars. 

During  this  period,  however,  the  Chinese  made  very 

important  advances  in  civilization.  The  arts  and  sciences 

were  improved,  literature  was  encouraged,  agriculture 

was  in  a progressive  state,  and  several  useful  inventions 

date  their  origin  from  the  same  era.  Among  the  latter, 

one  of  the  most  important  is  the  manufacture  of  paper, 

which  is  supposed  to  have  been  commenced  toward  the 

end  of  the  first  century.  The  Egyptians  had  long  pos- 
11 


162 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


sessed  tlie  art  of  making  paper  from  the  rush  called 
papyrus,  which  was  also  used  at  Home  for  the  same 
purpose  in  the  first  century ; but  that  the  Chinese  ob- 
tained their  knowledge  from  either  Rome  or  Egypt  may 
well  be  doubted.  Before  they  were  acquainted  with  this 
useful  art  they  were  accustomed  to  write  on  thin  slips  of 
bamboo,  not  with  ink,  but  with  pointed  tools,  similar  to 
those  used  by  engravers,  with  which  they  cut  or  engraved 
the  characters.  Books  were  formed  of  bamboo  by  taking 
off  the  outside  bark,  and  cutting  it  into  thin  sheets,  all 
of  the  same  shape  and  size;  which,  after  the  writing  was 
finished,  were  strung  together  in  such  a manner  as  to 
form  a compact,  though  rather  clumsy,  volume.  At 
length,  about  the  year  of  our  era  95,  it  was  ascertained, 
by  what  means  does  not  appear,  that  bamboo  might  be 
made  into  a better  material  for  writing  upon  than  it  fur- 
nished in  its  natural  state,  by  pounding  it  in  a mortar 
with  water  until  it  became  a thin  paste,  which,  being 
spread  out  on  a flat  surface,  was  dried  into  what  we  call 
paper.  The  earliest  specimens  of  this  new  art  in  China 
were  probably  of  a very  rough  description,  but  the 
manufacture  was  gradually  improved  by  the  mixture  of 
silk  and  other  materials,  until  the  Chinese  were  able  to 
produce  a paper  of  the  most  beautiful  texture,  adapted 
for  printing,  which  we  now  call  India  paper,  and  another 
kind  for  painting,  known  by  the  name  of  rice  paper. 

The  history  of  paper,  as  we  now  possess  it  in  Europe 
and  America,  is  curious.  The  Tartars  borrowed  the  art 
from  their  neighbors,  substituting  cotton,  which  abounded 
in  their  country,  for  the  bamboo.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  eighth  century,  when  the  conquests  of  the 
Arabs  carried  them  to  Samarkand,  in  the  heart  of  the 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


163 


Scythian  wilds,  they  found  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
paper  established  there.  The  Arabs  learned  the  art 
from  the  Tartars,  as  the  Tartars  had  learned  it  from  the 
Chinese,  and  in  their  turn  substituted  linen  for  cotton. 
To  the  Arabs,  therefore,  we  are  indebted  for  the  inesti- 
mable article  or  paper  made  from  linen ; but  whether 
the  art  of  making  it  was  introduced  by  the  Italians  of 
Venice,  Gaeta  and  Amalfi,  who,  during  the  eighth,  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries  kept  up  a constant  commercial  inter- 
course with  Syria  and  Egypt,  or  whether  the  Saracens 
{Arabs  under  another  name),  who  conquered  Spain  in 
the  early  part  of  the  eighth  century,  made  known  the 
manufacture  in  that  country,  has  not,  as  yet,  been  clearly 
ascertained.  Mr.  Mills  reasonably  supposes  that  the 
flourishing  linen  manufactories  at  Valencia  suggested 
the  idea  of  the  substitution  of  linen  for  cotton  in  that 
part  of  Europe,  as  the  cotton  manufactories  at  Samar- 
kand induced  the  Tartars  to  employ  cotton  instead  of 
bamboo. 

The  invention  of  paper  naturally  leads  to  that  of  ink, 
which  in  China  is  always  made  in  those  cakes  which  are 
imported  by  the  merchants  of  Western  countries  under 
the  name  of  Indian  ink ; it  is  used  with  the  camel’s-hair 
pencils  for  writing  by  the  Chinese,  who  do  not  require 
such  pens  as  ours  in  the  formation  of  their  hieroglyph- 
ical  characters. 

Most  of  the  princes  of  the  Han  dynasty  were  munifi- 
cent patrons  of  learning ; they  bestowed  the  highest  dig- 
nities on  men  of  literary  fame,  and  thus  learning,  as  in 
earlier  times,  continued  to  be  the  only  sure  road  to  wealth 
and  honors.  Nobility  was  not  hereditary  except  in  the 
imperial  family,  but  depended  entirely  on  personal  merit; 


164  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

and  as  it  was  always  bestowed  by  the  emperor,  so  it  could 
be  taken  away  at  bis  pleasure.  Thus  the  nobles,  or 
highest  class  of  mandarins  in  China,  are  not  necessarily 
persons  of  high  birth,  but  are  men  of  learning,  who  must 
have  passed  a public  examination  with  credit  before  they 
can  aspire  to  rank  and  office  in  the  state.  This  peculiar 
constitution  of  the  government  of  China  has  continued 
down  to  the  present  time. 

Under  the  Han  dynasty  lands  were,  for  the  first  time, 
frequently  bestowed  on  men  of  rank,  with  people  to  cul- 
tivate them,  who  were  bound  to  the  soil  and  were  to  a 
certain  extent  slaves : but  it  is  not  very  clear  how  far 
the  authority  of  their  masters  extended,  how  large  a 
portion  of  the  peasantry  was  thus  held  in  vassalage,  or 
how  long  the  system  continued.  There  are  a few  slaves 
in  China  at  the  present  time.  They  are  not,  however, 
people  of  other  races  or  countries.  It  is  a mild  servi- 
tude, like  that  among  the  Hebrews,  which  is  sometimes 
entered  into  voluntarily  by  debtors  or  persons  in  dis- 
tress through  famine  or  other  calamities.  Poor  parents 
often  sell  their  children.  The  absurd  stories  that  rich 
capitalists  bring  slaves  to  the  mines  in  California  are 
without  foundation ; they  arise  from  the  custom  of 
forming  “companies”  or  associations  for  their  mutual 
benefit. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  extraordinary 
commission1  of  the  emperor  Ming-ti  in  the  year  65  A.D., 
while  several  of  the  apostles  were  yet  living  and  preach- 
ing in  various  parts  of  the  continent  of  Asia,  in  search 
of  further  light  as  to  some  new  religion,  of  which  he 


1 It  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  eighteen  officers  of  state,  with  a prince  of 
Chu,  the  brother  of  the  emperor,  as  the  head. 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


165 


Lad  heard,  and  which  it  is  far  from  impossible  was 
Christianity.  Eusebius,  the  historian  of  the  early 
Church,  says  that  to  Thomas  was  allotted  Parthia,  and 
to  Andrew,  Scythia.  These  names  were  each  commonly 
applied  to  Northern  and  Eastern  Asia.  And  traces  of 
their  primitive  labors  yet  remain  in  some  parts  of  the 
East.  The  counsels  of  Heaven  alone  can  solve  the  rea- 
son why  China  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the  darkness 
of  heathenism,  while  the  gospel  preached  in  the  West 
was  efficacious  in  converting  multitudes  and  became  the 
religion  of  its  nations. 

Some  account  of  Buddhism  will  here  be  interesting. 
One  of  its  leading  doctrines  was,  and  is,  that  of  metem- 
psychosis or  transmigration  of  souls ; according  to  which 
the  Buddhists  believe  that  the  soul  quits  one  corporeal 
frame  to  animate  another,  not  necessarily  of  the  human 
species ; for  that  reason  a Buddhist  is  forbidden  by  the 
laws  of  his  creed  to  destroy  animal  life  in  any  shape. 
Sakyamuni,  the  founder  of  the  sect,  is  believed  by 
the  followers  of  it  to  be  an  incarnation  of  Buddha, 
or  Fuh.  The  deity  is  said  to  have  passed  through  one 
great  incarnation,  is  now  in  another,  and  another  will 
take  place  in  the  future.  These  they  usually  represent 
in  their  temples  by  three  great  gilded  idols,  which  they 
term  the  three  precious  Buddhas. 

The  Buddhist  priesthood  dwell  together  in  communi- 
ties in  the  manner  of  monks,  subsisting  chiefly  upon 
alms,  like  those  of  the  Koman  and  other  churches. 
The  head  of  this  religion  in  Tibet,  who  holds  the  same 
rank  among  the  votaries  of  Buddhism  there,  at  least,  as 
the  Pope  does  among  those  of  the  Roman  Church,  is 
called  the  Grand  Lama.  He  resides  with  much  state  in 


166 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE ’ 


Tibet,  and  is  supposed  to  be  immortal;  for  when  he 
dies,  it  is  given  out  that  his  soul  has  passed  into  the 
body  of  some  infant,  whom  the  priests  pretend  to 
identify  by  certain  signs,  and  who  is  brought  up  in  the 
belief  that  the  same  spirit  which  animated  the  form  of 
his  predecessor  exists  within  himself.  Thus  the  office 
of  Grand  Lama  always  commences  with  infancy  and  lasts 
till  the  close  of  life.  There  are  a great  many  female  de- 
votees belonging  to  this  faith,  who  live  like  nuns  secluded 
from  the  world,  and  never  marry ; but  they  are  not  so 
numerous  in  China  as  in  Tibet,  Japan  and  Tartary. 
The  Buddhists  have  five  prohibitory  commandments, 
which  they  strictly  observe.  These  are — “ Not  to  de- 
stroy animal  life ; not  to  steal;  not  to  speak  falsely ; not 
to  drink  wine ; and  that  the  priests  or  bonzes  shall  not 
marry.”  Their  belief  as  to  their  final  state  is,  that  after 
having  passed  through  a certain  term  of  probation  upon 
this  earth  under  various  forms,  they  shall  at  length  be 
received  into  the  paradise  of  Buddha  and  partake  of  his 
divine  nature. 

Some  of  the  Chinese  sovereigns  adopted  this  faith, 
while  others  encouraged  the  sect  of  Tau,  “Reason,”  a 
native  system,  the  founder  of  which  was  Lau-tsz,  a con- 
temporary of  Confucius.  The  Tauists  might  be  called 
magicians  rather  than  a sect  of  philosophy  or  religion. 
Among  those  who  favored  them  was  Wu-ti,  one  of  the 
early  emperors  of  the  Han  dynasty,  a prince  who  was 
famed  for  many  virtues,  but  was  strongly  addicted  to  the 
belief  in  magic,  and  maintained  a number  of  the  Tauist 
priests  at  his  court,  who  were  constantly  engaged  in 
studies  which  he  was  credulous  enough  to  believe  would 
lead  at  last  to  the  discovery  of  the  elixir  of  life,  a 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


167 


draught  of  which  he  was  extremely  anxious  to  taste. 
In  this  hope  he  was  continually  supplying  the  sages 
with  large  sums  of  money  to  enable  them  to  procure  the 
rare  ingredients  for  making  the  wonderful  liquid,  some 
of  which  they  pretended  were  hidden  in  remote  corners 
of  the  earth,  and  only  to  be  obtained  with  great  diffi- 
culty and  by  the  aid  of  magic. 

In  vain  did  the  ministers  remonstrate  with  him  on  the 
folly  of  squandering  the  public  money  in  such  idle  pur- 
suits. He  turned  a deaf  ear  to  their  exhortations,  and 
gave  his  whole  attention  to  the  Tauists  and  their  exper- 
iments. At  length  it  was  announced  that  the  coveted 
draught  was  really  prepared,  and  the  chief  priest  was 
deputed  to  convey  it  in  a golden  cup  to  his  royal  patron ; 
when,  in  crossing  the  great  hall  of  the  palace,  one  of  the 
ministers,  feigning  a desire  to  look  closely  at  so  miracu- 
lous a compound,  suddenly  snatched  the  cup  from  the 
hands  of  the  astonished  priest  and  drank  off  its  contents. 
The  enraged  and  disappointed  emperor  ordered  that  the 
offender  should  instantly  lose  his  head ; a consequence 
that  had  been  foreseen  by  the  daring  courtier,  who  had 
provided  himself  with  a very  clever  defence.  “ O most 
mighty  prince !”  said  he,  “ how  is  it  possible  for  thy 
commands  to  deprive  me  of  life,  if  the  potion  I have 
just  swallowed  has  really  the  power  ascribed  to  it  ? 
Then  make  the  trial ; I willingly  submit  to  the  test ; but 
remember,  that  if  I die,  thy  system  must  be  a false  one, 
and  in  tha+t  case  my  poor  life  will  have  been  well  be- 
stowed in  convincing  my  prince  of  his  error.”  The 
monarch  pondered  on  these  words  for  a few  moments, 
and  then  pardoned  the  offender ; not  so  much,  perhaps, 
from  motives  of  clemency  as  from  reluctance  to  be  un- 


168 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


deceived,  or  to  let  the  world  into  the  secret  of  his  credu- 
lity; so  that  it  is  evident  he  began  to  waver  in  the  faith 
he  had  professed.  The  Tauists  were  engaged  in  other 
researches  no  less  chimerical  than  that  of  finding  means 
of  prolonging  human  life  beyond  its  natural  time,  and 
many  of  them  spent  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in  the 
search  after  the  philosopher’s  stone.  Yet  we  need  not 
wonder  at  the  folly  and  credulity  of  the  Chinese  princes 
in  bestowing  attention  on  such  fruitless  speculations  so 
early  as  the  first  century,  when  we  find  the  most  pro- 
found scholars  of  Europe  thirteen  hundred  years  later 
engaged  in  the  same  visionary  pursuits ; and  may  read 
of  one  of  the  German  emperors  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  neglecting  the  affairs  of  the  state  to 
shut  himself  up  Avith  the  alchemists  whom  he  maintained 
at  his  court,  assisting  them  in  their  experiments,  and  ex- 
pecting that  they  would  at  length  discover  the  two  great 
secrets  which  would  bestow  on  him  the  gifts  of  endless 
life  and  inexhaustible  riches. 

The  reign  of  Hwan-ti  is  memorable  on  account  of  a 
Roman  embassy  which  reached  China,  according  to  the 
histories  of  that  period,  in  the  year  166  A.D.  The  fact 
of  this  intercourse  makes  more  probable  the  brief  asser- 
tions of  the  preaching  of  Christianity  in  those  distant 
regions.  The  Romans  are  said  to  have  come  part  of 
the  way  by  sea,  part  by  land,  through  Cochin-China. 
They  are  spoken  of  by  the  Chinese  as  remarkable  for 
their  wealth  and  for  their  integrity  and  honesty.  It  is 
interesting  to  remark  also  that  accounts  of  Rome  exist 
which  seem  to  have  been  furnished  by  Chinese  who 
visited  that  city  about  the  same  period,  and  even  earlier, 
since  they  refer  to  the  election  of  consuls  by  the  people 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


169 


themselves.  The  Chinese  armies  conquered  during  the 
Han  dynasty  the  countries  to  the  west  and  south  of  the 
empire,  which  have  paid  them  tribute  until  now.  One 
general  is  said  to  have  reached  the  Caspian  sea. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  second  century  the  power  of 
the  Han  dynasty  began  to  decline.  Some  of  the  princes 
were  weak,  others  wicked ; the  eunuchs  of  the  palace 
fomented  discord  ; and  at  length  a formidable  insurrec- 
tion broke  out,  called  “The  Revolt  of  the  Yellow 
Caps” — a cap  of  that  color  being  the  badge  of  the 
disaffected  party,  whose  object  was  to  depose  the  reign- 
ing family  and  place  some  warlike  chieftain  on  the 
throne. 

Ho-ti,  the  seventeenth  emperor  of  the  race  of  Han,  is 
said  to  have  had  considerable  intercourse  with  the  nations 
to  the  west  of  China.  It  is  even  recorded  that  one  of  his 
envoys  went  as  far  as  Arabia.  It  is  certain  that  eunuchs, 
who  afterward  became  numerous  in  China  and  the  cause 
of  infinite  intrigue,  malice,  wickedness,  confusion  and 
revolt,  were  first  introduced  during  this  reign,  and  it 
maybe  inferred  that  Ho-ti  borrowed  them  from  Western 
Asia  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era. 

The  troubles  occasioned  by  the  Yellow  Caps  led  to 
several  usurpations  of  the  imperial  dignity,  and  opened 
a new  field  of  ambition  to  the  kings  of  Han,  Wu  and 
Wei,  who  each  boldly  asserted  his  claims  to  the  throne. 
A fierce  contest  ensued,  which  lasted  forty-three  years, 
and  is  celebrated  in  Chinese  history  under  the  title  of 
“The  War  of  the  Three  Kingdoms.”  It  would  be  vain 
to  seek  for  any  rational  account  of  the  events  which 
marked  this  unhappy  period  of  civil  warfare.  It  was 


170 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  Chinese  age  of  chivalry,  and  each  chief  was  exalted 
into  a wonderful  hero  by  the  writers  of  the  time,  who 
blended  so  much  romance  with  history  that  nothing 
certain  can  be  gathered  from  their  works  beyond  the 
fact  that  the  country  was  divided  into  three  separate 
states,  the  sovereigns  of  which  were  at  war  with  each 
other  for  nearly  half  a century. 

The  period  of  the  “ Three  Kingdoms,”  into  which  the 
country  was  divided  about  A.  D.  184,  is  a favorite  sub- 
ject of  the  historical  plays  and  romances  of  the  Chinese. 
A work  designated  by  the  above  name  is  much  prized 
and  very  popular  among  them.  It  is  said  to  have  as 
few  extravagances  as  could  be  expected  from  an  Orien- 
tal history,  and,  except  that  it  is  in  prose,  bears  a resem- 
blance in  some  of  its  features  to  the  Iliad,  especially  in 
what  Lord  Chesterfield  calls  “the  porter-like  language” 
of  the  heroes.  These  heroes  excel  all  moderns  in 
strength  and  prowess,  and  make  exchanges  after  the 
fashion  of  Glaucus  and  Diomed,  Hector  and  Ajax.  One 
shows  his  liberality  in  horses,  another  in  wearing  a 
weight  of  silver  or  iron — 

“ And  steel  well-tempered,  and  refulgent  gold.” 

At  length  there  appeared  among  the  competitors  for 
the  imperial  throne  a prince  who  put  an  end  to  the  war 
and  reunited  the  three  states  under  one  sceptre.  He 
assumed  the  title  of  emperor,  established  the  capital  in 
Ho-nan,  and  commenced,  in  A.  D.  260,  the  dynasty  called 
Tsin,  a name  which,  though  it  is  spelled  in  our  alphabet 
like  that  of  the  first  general  dynasty  of  the  empire,  five 
hundred  years  earlier,  yet  is  written  in  the  Chinese 
with  a different  character.  The  new  dynasty  ruled  over 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


171 


China  somewhat  more  than  a century  and  a half,  during 
which  period  fifteen  sovereigns  succeeded  each  other  on 
the  throne. 

Warned  by  the  destructions  which  had  arisen  from 
the  interference  and  intrigues  of  women  and  eunuchs, 
the  new  sovereign  of  the  race  of  Tsin  passed  a kind  of 
Salic  law,  declaring  that  “ women  should  not  reign  nor 
take  any  part  in  public  matters.”  The  Chinese  historian 
of  the  period  says  that  this  was  a good  law  and  worthy  of 
being  an  example.  It  was,  however,  soon  abrogated  in 
practice.  Under  weak  emperors  the  women  resumed 
their  influence,  and  the  mischievous  eunuchs  were  greatly 
increased  in  number.  This  first  emperor  is  said  to  have 
had  political  relations  with  a province  of  Sogdiana,  and 
even  to  have  received  a Homan  embassy. 

The  population  of  the  country  had  so  considerably  in- 
creased that  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  clear  and 
cultivate  much  of  the  forest  land,  that  a sufficiency  of  food 
might  be  raised  for  the  people,  who  lived  chiefly  on  rice. 
The  peasantry  were  exceedingly  industrious,  the  women 
and  children  working  in  the  fields  as  well  as  the  men ; 
and  as  the  farms  on  which  they  labored  were  in  most 
cases  their  own,  they  had  the  greater  motives  for  exer- 
tion. Many  people  at  this  period  were  employed  iu 
rearing  horses  for  war,  and  most  of  the  farmers  grazed 
cattle  on  the  commons ; but  this  kind  of  farming  was 
gradually  discontinued  as  the  necessity  of  bringing  the 
public  land  under  culture  increased,  till  at  length  there 
were  very  few  commons  or  pastures  left,  cattle  became 
scarce,  and  sheep  were  only  to  be  found  in  the  moun- 
tainous districts. 

The  country  people  lived  more  together  in  large 


172 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


families.  It  was  customary  for  a son  to  bring  his  wife 
home  to  his  father’s  house,  where  she  was  expected  to 
submit  entirely  to  the  authority  of  her  mother-in-law, 
whose  province  it  was,  as  elder  matron,  to  rule  over  the 
female  part  of  the  household;  and  if  this  part  of  the 
domination  was  not  always  exercised  in  the  most  gentle 
manner  possible,  it  was  no  less  the  duty  of  the  daugh- 
ters-in-law to  yield  implicit  obedience.  Hence  partly, 
perhaps,  arose  the  custom  prevalent  among  Chinese 
maidens,  when  any  one  of  their  young  friends  is  about 
to  marry,  of  going  to  sit  and  weep  with  her  before  she 
leaves  her  parental  home  to  take  up  her  abode  with 
strangers.  The  birth  of  a son  was  always  celebrated 
with  great  rejoicings,  but  that  of  a daughter  was  con- 
sidered as  rather  a misfortune  than  otherwise,  especially 
if  the  parents  were  poor;  for  a girl  could  in  no  way 
advance  the  fortunes  of  her  family,  whereas  a boy 
always  had  the  chance,  at  least,  by  applying  himself  to 
learning,  of  attaining  high  honors ; and  in  that  case  his 
parents  were  sure  to  be  exalted  also  as  a reward  for  the 
attention  they  had  bestowed  on  his  education,  which  was 
regarded  as  a benefit  to  the  state ; and  even  if  he  were 
not  gifted  with  extraordinary  talents,  he  was  looked  up 
to  for  future  support,  as  every  young  man  was  obliged 
by  law  to  maintain  his  aged  parents,  and  taught  by  his 
religion  that  it  was  one  of  his  most  sacred  obligations  so 
to  do.  This  point  of  filial  duty  was  held  in  so  much 
importance  by  the  government  that  a law  was  enacted 
to  the  effect  that  the  life  of  a criminal,  who  would 
otherwise  be  condemned  to  death,  should  be  spared,  jmo- 
vided  his  parents  were  old,  and  had  no  other  son  or 
grandson  above  the  age  of  sixteen  to  work  for  them. 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


173 


Different  names  were  given  to  an  individual  at  suc- 
cessive periods  of  his  life.  The  first  was  bestowed  at 
his  birth  by  his  father,  who,  having  assembled  all  his 
relatives,  took  the  infant  in  his  arms  and  pronounced  its 
name  with  numerous  prayers  and  ceremonies ; the  next 
name  was  conferred  on  the  boy’s  first  entrance  into 
school  by  the  master,  and  was  called  “ the  book-name 
the  third  appellation  was  assumed  at  his  marriage,  when, 
if  he  were  the  eldest  son,  the  father  also  added  another 
character  to  his  own  name ; all  which  alterations,  one 
would  suppose,  must  at  times  have  created  some  con- 
fusion, and  must  do  so  still,  for  these  customs  are  even  to 
this  day  continued ; as  is  also  a law  which  was  instituted 
about  this  time,  prohibiting  . any  person  from  marrying 
one  of  the  same  surname,  even  though  the  parties  were 
not  related  to  each  other. 

In  ancient  times  the  law  of  primogeniture  existed 
among  the  Chinese,  and  remained  in  force  until  the 
reign  of  the  emperor  Wu-ti,  who  abolished  it  and  insti- 
tuted a new  one,  by  which,  on  the  death  of  a father,  his 
lands  were  divided  among  all  his  male  children;  the  only 
difference  being  that  the  eldest  had  two  portions.  The 
right  to  this  double  portion  still  exists.  A daughter  had 
no  inheritance,  neither  did  she  receive  any  marriage 
portion  from  her  parents.  On  the  contrary,  her  future 
husband  or  his  friends  sent  presents  according  to  their 
means,  as  was  the  custom  as  far  back  as  in  that  primi- 
tive age  when  Abraham  sent  his  steward  to  seek  a wife 
for  his  son  Isaac,  who  took  with  him  jewels  of  silver  and 
jewels  of  gold,  and  raiment,  which  he  presented  to 
Rebekah  and  her  friends  on  his  asking  the  damsel  as  a 
bride  for  his  young  master.  As  daughters  and  wives, 


174 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  women  of  China  were  not  held  in  as  much  consider- 
ation as  they  are  among  the  nations  of  the  West;  but  as 
mothers,  they  were  treated  with  the  utmost  respect, 
especially  by  their  sons,  who,  even  when  themselves 
advanced  in  years,  paid  great  deference  to  the  commands 
and  counsels  of  an  aged  mother. 

At  this  period  the  men  did  not  shave  their  heads,  as 
they  do  now ; but  suffered  the  hair  to  grow  very  long 
and  thick,  and  fastened  it  in  a knot  at  the  top  of  the 
head.  The  male  attire  was  long  and  flowing,  with  loose 
sleeves;  and  in  the  winter  men  of  rank  wore  costly 
furs ; but  the  winter  dresses  of  the  poor  were  made  of 
sheepskin.  As  to  the  ladies,  it  does  not  appear  that 
they  have  much  altered  the  fashion  of  their  dress  from 
that  time  to  this.  Their  costume  is  not  altogether  unbe- 
coming. It  consists  in  a full  robe  gathered  into  a narrow 
band  round  the  throat,  from  which  it  hangs  in  graceful 
folds,  unconfined  at  the  waist,  with  large  falling  sleeves. 
The  most  striking  difference  in  the  appearance  of  the 
gentlemen  of  ancient  and  modern  times  relates  to  the 
head ; that  of  the  ladies  to  the  feet,  which  were  then 
suffered  to  grow  to  the  natural  size,  and  were  not  dis- 
torted and  squeezed  into  shoes  four  inches  long,  as  they 
are  at  present. 

In  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  the  people  were  much 
governed  by  superstition,  putting  implicit  faith  in  omens, 
dreams  and  spells  innumerable.  A belief  in  astrology 
was  universal,  and  charms  and  talismans  were  frequently 
resorted  to  even  by  the  most  learned  men  of  the  age,  by 
the  power  of  which  they  hoped  to  avert  an  impending 
evil.  One  of  these  popular  superstitions  was  exempli- 
fied in  a singular  manner  during  the  War  of  the  Three 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  IN  CHINA. 


175 


Kingdoms,  by  a chief  named  Kung-ming,  who  was  a 
great  astrologer,  and  very  often  consulted  the  stars  on 
the  subject  of  future  events.  One  night,  being  thus  en- 
gaged, he  fancied  he  saw  signs  in  the  heavens  predicting 
that  his  own  death  would  take  place  in  a few  hours ; but, 
as  he  was  not  willing  to  die  so  soon,  he  lost  no  time  in 
endeavoring  to  avert  the  fatal  doom  by  means  of  a spell. 
He  lighted  a number  of  lamps  in  his  tent,  placing  them 
in  a particular  order,  corresponding  with  the  position  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  at  the  time,  and  then  composed  a 
sort  of  prayer,  which  he  continued  to  repeat  incessantly 
as  he  sat  on  the  ground  before  the  lamps.  But  all  was 
unavailing,  for  before  the  sun  rose  he  had  breathed 
his  last,  most  probably  in  consequence  of  the  nervous 
excitement  produced  by  his  own  superstitious  dread. 
The  inefficacy  of  the  charm  was  thus  clearly  proved, 
yet  the  superstition  still  remains,  and  many  of  the 
Chinese  occasionally  light  lamps  and  arrange  them  in 
correspondence  with  the  position  of  the  stars,  in  the 
full  persuasion  that  a threatened  misfortune  may  be 
thus  averted. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IK  CHIKA. 

rTHE  study  of  tlie  history  of  the  middle  ages  in  China 
is  calculated  to  fill  the  mind  with  surprise.  Our 
ancestors  present  the  melancholy  picture  of  nations 
which  had  occupied  a high  position  as  to  civilization 
retrograding  to  barbarism ; of  races  which  had  enjoyed 
the  light  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  allowing  it  to  go  out 
in  darkness,  and  sitting  down  with  a closed  Bible,  to 
accept  for  its  heavenly  teachings  and  comforts  the  “ old 
wives’  fables”  of  their  heathen  forefathers,  only  altered 
by  the  priests  of  Home  so  far  as  to  substitute  the  names 
of  Christian  saints  for  those  of  the  ancient  gods  and  god- 
desses. But  in  China  there  are  peace,  civilization,  pro- 
gress in  the  arts,  and  so  manifest  a superiority  to  Europe, 
that  the  fragmentary  accounts  of  the  travelers  thither 
from  the  West  express  much  the  same  wonder  and  ad- 
miration at  what  they  beheld  which  now  a native  of 
Tibet  might  be  expected  to  utter  when  he  should  visit 
the  cities  of  France.  The  Arabs,  who  were  then  well 
acquainted  with  Europe,  had  such  exalted  ideas  of  the 
splendor  of  China  that  their  authors  were  accustomed  to 
say  that  “ Chin”  had  the  best  inheritance  of  all  the  pos- 
terity of  Noah,  that  he  was  the  most  ingenious  and  able 
of  them  all,  and  that  he  was  the  discoverer  of  the  arts 

176 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


177 


of  sculpture  and  architecture,  of  painting  or  dying  with 
colors,  and  of  the  culture  and  manufacture  of  silk.  The 
Persians  also  expressed  this  admiration  of  China.  When 
they  wish  even  now  to  describe  a very  beautiful  and  hand- 
somely furnished  house,  they  call  it  kaneh  Chini,  that  is,  a 
“ Chinese  house.” 1 Such  were  the  ideas  of  the  Nestorian 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  who  were  drawn 
thither  by  the  hope  of  converting  so  grand  an  empire  to 
the  Christian  faith.  And  such  were  the  pictures  which 
Marco  Polo2  presented,  which  so  greatly  excited  the  zeal 
of  Columbus  and  other  European  mariners  to  find  a pas- 
sage thither  across  the  Western  ocean. 

But  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  renew  these  extravagant 
pictures,  or  at  least  what  would  seem  to  • us  in  this  age 
extravagant.  We  would  only  recall  the  fact  of  a rela- 
tive position  of  the  East  to  the  West,  as  to  civilization 
and  wealth,  a thousand  years  ago,  just  the  opposite  from 
that  which  now  exists. 

The  ancient  capital  of  the  Chinese  empire  was  Hang- 
chau,  a large,  wealthy  city,  situated  at  no  very  great  dis- 
tance from  Nanking,  and  containing  an  immense  popu- 
lation, chiefly  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  silk  and 
cotton.  The  imperial  palace,  standing  in  the  midst  of 
extensive  gardens,  was  adorned  with  Eastern  splendor, 
and  near  it  were  several  magnificent  temples  and  many 
fine  residences  belonging  to  the  grandees  of  the  court. 
The  first  sovereign  of  the  new  dynasty  of  Tsin,  however, 
removed  the  seat  of  government  to  Kai-fung,  another 
large  city,  standing  in  the  centre  of  the  empire,  in  the 
province  of  Ho-nan,  one  of  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful 

1 D’Herbelot,  BiMiothZque  Orientate,  iii.,  art.  “Sin.” 

2 Travels,  Part  I.,  chap,  lvii.,  etc. 

12 


/ 


178 


TIIE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


parts  of  all  China — the  same  where  the  remarkable  Jew- 
ish colony  was  found ; and  this  was  the  royal  residence 
until  the  reign  of  Yuen-ti,  the  fifth  emperor  of  the  line 
of  Tsin,  who  built  a very  magnificent  palace  at  Nanking, 
where  the  court  was  held  with  more  splendor  than  had 
been  exhibited  by  any  of  the  former  sovereigns. 

There  was  an  interval  of  repose  which  lasted  some 
years,  when  a new  invasion  of  the  Tartars  again  spread 
terror  and  desolation  throughout  the  western  provinces. 
They  were  led  by  a barbarian  prince,  who  laid  claim  to 
the  empire  on  the  ground  of  being  descended  from  one 
of  those  princesses  of  the  race  of  Han  who  had  married 
Tartar  chieftains ; and  the  fierce  invader,  having  made 
a captive  of  the  emperor,  obliged  the  unfortunate  mon- 
arch to  wait  upon  him  at  table  for  several  days  in  his 
tent,  and  then  had  him  cruelly  put  to  death ; soon  after 
which  one  of  his  generals  captured  the  son  of  the  mur- 
dered sovereign,  who  was  treated  with  every  insult,  and, 
in  the  habit  of  a slave,  was  compelled  to  attend  the  bar- 
barian chief  on  his  hunting  excursions,  and  to  perform 
the  degrading  office  of  carrying  his  parasol;  for  this 
article  of  convenience  was  known  from  a very  early  pe- 
riod to  the  Chinese,  Tartars,  Hindus  and  other  Oriental 
nations  as  an  ensign  of  dignity,  and  only  used  by  per- 
sons of  rank.1 

The  unhappy  prince  was  not  destined  long  to  endure 

1 The  umbrella,  or  parasol,  so  universal  now  in  China,  and  probably  so  ancient, 
is  depicted  in  the  ancient  paintings  of  the  Egyptians.  In  the  sculptures  of  Nin- 
eveh it  is  an  emblem  of  royalty.  Sometimes  in  them  it  is  seen  borne  by  an 
attendant,  and  may  have  a veil  suspended  from  one  side,  more  effectually  to 
shield  the  royal  person  from  the  sun,  or  it  is  fastened  upon  the  chariot.  The 
sides  are  often  ornamented  with  fringe  and  the  top  with  an  appropriate  figure. 
Such  coincidences  of  customs  help  to  illustrate  the  intercourse  of  these  ancient 
nations. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


179 


these  mortifications,  for  he  was  beheaded  by  command 
of  the  tyrant  in  consequence  of  an  attempt  made  to 
effect  his  liberation.  Another  prince  of  his  family  was 
immediately  proclaimed  emperor,  and  the  Tartars  were 
soon  driven  out  of  the  Chinese  territories,  but  not  before 
they  had  done  a vast  deal  of  mischief  in  the  provinces 
which  bordered  on  their  own  country.  The  monarchs  of 
the  Tsin  dynasty  were  not  so  illustrious  as  those  of  the 
race  of  Han.  The  country  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  so  well  governed;  and  the  people  were  very  much 
dissatisfied  with  the  heavy  taxes  levied  to  support  the 
extravagance  of  the  court,  which  had  never  been  held 
with  so  much  magnificence  as  at  this  period.  Grand 
feasts  and  expensive  entertainments  were  constantly 
given  at  the  palace,  where  the  royal  banquets  were 
usually  enlivened  by  dances  performed  by  female  slaves, 
who  were  splendidly  attired  in  dresses  sparkling  with 
gold  and  jewels.  Their  movements  were  accompanied 
by  very  noisy  music,  for  the  Chinese  have  always  been 
fond  of  cymbals,  drums,  trumpets  and  those  deafening 
instruments  called  gongs.  They  had,  however,  many 
softer  instruments,  such  as  the  lute  and  guitar,  which 
were  often  touched  by  other  female  fingers  and  accom- 
panied by  other  female  voices  besides  those  of  the  young 
slaves ; but  dancing  was  treated  merely  as  an  exhibition, 
and  not  resorted  to  for  amusement,  as  in  European 
countries.  The  excessive  luxury  of  the  court,  which 
could  be  maintained  only  by  burdening  the  people  with 
taxes,  excited  much  popular  discontent,  which  manifested 
itself,  as  usual,  by  a number  of  insurrections,  which 
broke  out  from  time  to  time  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire,  and  at  length  ended  in  the  overthrow  of  the 


180 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tsin  dynasty — a revolution  which  was  effected  in  a very 
remarkable  manner,  and  of  which  the  following  are  the 
incidents : A poor  boy  named  Liu-yu,  born  in  the  city 
of  Nanking,  had  been  left  a destitute  orphan  at  a very 
early  age,  and  must  have  perished  from  want,  had  not  an 
old  woman,  who  took  compassion  on  him,  brought  him 
up  as  her  own.  As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough,  he 
learned  to  make  shoes,  and  sold  them  in  the  streets  of 
the  city ; but  he  was  so  idle  and  careless  that  those  who 
knew  him  predicted  that  he  would  come  to  no  good. 
For  a long  time  Liu-yu  carried  on  his  shoe  trade,  by 
which  he  earned  a scanty  livelihood  without  concerning 
himself  much  about  his  condition,  until  he  happened  to 
attract  the  notice  of  a military  officer,  who  had  probably 
stopped  him  to  make  a purchase,  and  who,  being  pleased 
with  the  replies  to  some  questions  he  had  put,  proposed 
to  him  that  he  should  become  a soldier.  As  fighting 
was  an  occupation  better  suited  to  his  taste  than  shoe- 
making, Liu-yu  at  once  accepted  the  offer,  and  having 
been  introduced  into  this  new  scene  of  action,  he  dis- 
played so  much  courage  and  ability  that  he  was  promoted 
in  his  profession  by  degrees  till  he  became  chief  com- 
mander of  the  imperial  forces,  and  in  that  capacity  ren- 
dered such  important  services  to  the  emperor  during  a 
serious  rebellion  that  he  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of 
chief  minister  of  state.  By  this  time  he  had  become 
very  ambitious ; and  taking  advantage  of  the  prevailing 
disaffection  toward  the  reigning  family,  and  having 
made  himself  exceedingly  popular,  he  seized  a favorable 
opportunity  of  aspiring  openly  to  the  throne,  and,  by 
the  aid  of  a powerful  party,  compelled  the  emperor  to 
abdicate  in  his  favor.  Such  was  the  remarkable  career 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


181 


of  Liu-yu,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor  under  the  name 
of  Yung-chu. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  dynasty  of  Tsin,  China  had 
become  divided  into  two  kingdoms,  each  having  its  own 
sovereign,  which  could  scarcely  fail  to  occasion  many 
troubles,  particularly  as  one  was  considered  subordinate 
to  the  other.  The  superior  prince,  who  alone  bore  the 
title  of  emperor,  resided  at  Nanking,  while  the  king  of 
the  northern  part  of  the  country  kept  his'  court  at 
Ho-nan ; and  they  were  frequently  at  war  with  each 
other.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  people  that  the  Tartars 
about  this  time  turned  their  attention  toward  Europe, 
and  under  their  renowned  king,  Attila,  invaded  the 
Roman  empire.  The  Chinese  were  thus  relieved  from 
their  most  formidable  enemies ; yet  there  is  no  period  of 
their  history  more  confused  or  more  disturbed  than  that 
which  followed  the  downfall  of  the  Tsin  dynasty.  For 
nearly  two  centuries  afterward  five  successive  races 
rapidly  followed  each  other  to  the  throne,  and  then 
to  ruin  and  extinction.  The  strongest  ruled,  and  the 
history  of  the  period  is  a mere  record  of  blood  and 
crime. 

The  Chinese  during  this  time  carried  on  an  extensive 
trade  with  the  Arabians  and  Persians,  whose  caravans 
made  regular  journeys  to  the  frontiers,  from  whence 
they  returned  laden  with  silks,  of  which  a portion  was 
sent  to  Constantinople  for  the  use  of  the  luxurious  in- 
habitants of  that  city.  The  Arabians  also  maintained 
an  extensive  commerce  by  sea ; so  that  they  had  formed 
considerable  settlements  in  Ceylon  and  in  various  places 
on  the  Malabar  coast,  had  made  themselves  familiar  with 
the  navigation  of  the  Indian  ocean,  and  had  sent  their 


182 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


trading-vessels  as  far  as  China.1  We  must  here  remem- 
ber that  after  Rome  had  been  taken  by  the  Goths,  Con- 
stantinople, where  the  Roman  emperors  had  held  their 
court  ever  since  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great,  re- 
mained, with  a large  portion  of  what  was  termed  the 
Empire  of  the  East,  in  possession  of  the  Romans.  It 
was  then  the  most  wealthy  city  in  the  world,  and  its  in- 
habitants indulged  in  every  rare  and  costly  luxury. 
Silks  were  in  great  demand,  and  were  supplied  at  im- 
mense prices  by  the  merchants  of  Arabia  and  Persia, 
who,  however,  could  afford  no  information  respecting  the 
Chinese ; neither  did  they  know  that  silk  was  produced 
by  insects.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, and  during  the  time  when  China  was  in  the  state 
of  anarchy  above  described  that  the  secret  was  discov- 
ered and  brought  into  Europe  by  two  Nestorian  monks, 
who  went  as  Christian  missionaries  into  distant  lands. 
They  carried  the  intelligence  to  the  emperor  Justinian, 
and  undertook,  for  a large  reward,  to  procure  for  him  a 
quantity  of  silkworms’  eggs.  The  monks  were  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  with  the  stolen  eggs,  which  they  carried 
to  Constantinople  inside  a cane ; and  as  they  had  made 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  art  of  rearing  the  worms, 
these  multiplied  very  fast  in  the  warm  climate  of  Greece, 
and  were  the  progenitors  of  all  the  silkworms  propagated 
in  Europe. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  the  northern  and 
southern  kingdoms  of  China  were  again  united  into  one, 
of  which  the  city  of  Ho-nan  was  declared  the  capital ; 

1 They  introduced  the  Mohammedan  religion  into  Southern  China,  where  the 
writer  has  seen  tombs  which  it  is  said  were  erected  in  the  seventh  century  of 
the  Christian  era. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


183 


and  not  long  afterward  the  country  was  restored  to  order 
by  another  revolution  and  the  accession  of  a new  and 
illustrious  race  of  sovereigns,  called  the  Tang,  who  re- 
established the  old  system  of  government  which  had 
been  so  happily  pursued  by  the  Han  princes.  The 
founder  of  the  Tang  dynasty  was  a chief  or  general 
named  Li-yuen,  who  deposed  the  last  prince  of  the  five 
families  which  had  so  long  kept  the  country  in  confusion, 
and  ascended  the  throne  A.D.  622.  The  greater  part 
of  his  reign  was  spent  in  subduing  rebellions  raised  by 
the  princes  of  the  late  dynasty,  and  making  such  regu- 
lations as  were  likely  to  lead  to  future  prosperity ; but 
as  soon  as  he  saw  that  peace  was  restored,  and  that  the 
stream  of  government  was  again  flowing  in  its  proper 
channel,  he  chose  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  son,  the 
great  Tai-tsung,  after  having  occupied  the  throne  about 
nine  years.  Tai-tsung  is  celebrated  by  the  Chinese  as 
one  of  their  most  illustrious  sovereigns ; and  he  appears 
to  have  merited  the  praises  bestowed  on  him  for  his 
clemency,  wisdom,  justice  and  general  attention  to  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  Under  the  auspices  of  this  en- 
lightened prince,  learning  and  the  arts  flourished  as  in 
the  ancient  times,  and  all  the  high  offices  were  again 
filled  by  men  of  letters ; while,  in  order  to  promote  the 
revival  of  literature,  which  had  so  long  been  neglected 
for  war,  an  academy  was  instituted  within  the  precincts 
of  the  palace,  where  not  less  than  eight  thousand 
students  received  instruction  from  the  most  able  pro- 
fessors. Tai-tsung  also  founded  a great  school  for 
archery,  where  he  often  attended  himself  for  the  pur- 
pose of  practicing  that  warlike  art,  in  which  it  was  im- 
portant for  the  Chinese  to  excel,  as  bows  and  arrows 


184 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


were  their  principal  weapons.  The  ministers  some- 
times remonstrated  with  the  emperor  on  the  impru- 
dence of  trusting  himself  among  the  archers,  but  the 
good  prince  only  replied,  “Am  I not  the  father  of 
my  people?  What,  then,  should  I fear  from  my 
children  ?” 

The  attention  of  Tai-tsung  was  constantly  directed 
toward  improving  the  condition  of  the  lower  orders, 
which  he  effected  in  a material  degree  by  lessening  the 
taxes,  and  sending  commissioners  into  all  the  provinces 
to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  magistrates  and  to 
see  that  the  poor  wTere  not  oppressed  by  them ; for  he 
often  expressed  the  benevolent  wish  that  every  poor  man 
should  have  enough  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life 
to  make  him  comfortable  in  his  station ; which  may  re- 
mind us  of  the  well-known  speech  of  Henry  the  Fourth 
of  France,  that  he  should  not  be  satisfied  till  every 
peasant  in  the  kingdom  could  afford  to  have  a fowl  in 
his  pot  on  the  Sunday.  His  strict  sentiments  with  re- 
gard to  the  administration  of  justice  induced  him  to 
pass  a law  for  the  prevention  of  bribery,  by  making  it 
an  offence  punishable  with  death  for  any  magistrate  to 
receive  a present  as  a propitiation  in  the  exercise  of  his 
power ; and,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  this  law  had  its 
proper  effect,  he  employed  a person  to  offer  a bribe  to  a 
certain  magistrate  of  whose  integrity  he  had  some  sus- 
picion. The  bribe  was  accepted  and  the  guilty  magis- 
trate condemned  to  death ; but  his  life  was  saved  by  the 
interference  of  one  of  the  ministers,  who  were  always  at 
liberty  to  speak  freely  to  the  emperors  on  the  subject  of 
their  conduct.  “ Great  prince,”  said  the  monitor,  “ the 
magistrate  is  guilty,  and  therefore  deserves  to  die,  ac- 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA, 


185 


cording  to  the  law,  but  are  not  you,  who  tempted  him  to 
commit  the  crime,  a sharer  in  his  guilt?”  The  emperor 
at  once  admitted  that  he  was  so,  and  pardoned  the 
offender. 

During  the  reign  of  Tai-tsung,  some  Christian  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Nestorian  Church  first  arrived  in  China, 
where  they  were  well  received  by  the  emperor,  who  per- 
mitted them  to  build  churches  and  preach  Christianity 
among  the  people.  They  were  successful  in  making 
many  converts,  one  of  whom  was  the  famous  minister  of 
state,  Kwoh  Tsz-i.  They  gave  to  the  Tartar  tribes  on 
the  north  of  China  their  own  Syriac  alphabet,  and  great 
numbers  of  those  people  became  Christians.  When  the 
first  Roman  priests  visited  China  they  found  the  sign  of* 
the  cross  in  use,  and  other  customs  which  bore  evidence 
of  the  former  influence  of  the  Nestorians.  A tablet  was 
discovered  at  the  city  of  Sin-ngan  cut  in  the  Syriac  cha- 
racter, which  related  the  success  of  their  early  labors. 
Their  missionary  zeal  deserves  great  honor.  It  con- 
ferred lasting  benefits  upon  the  nations  of  Eastern  Asia. 

The  emperor  Tai-tsung  died,  after  a reign  of  twenty- 
three  years,  universally  regretted  by  his  subjects,  who 
looked  up  to  him  as  a pattern  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  and 
preserved  many  of  his  excellent  maxims,  which  are  fre- 
quently repeated  with  great  veneration  to  this  day.  The 
successors  of  Tai-tsung  maintained  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity which  had  been  established  by  that  great  prince ; 
and  under  their  dominion  the  country  was  much  im- 
proved, and  the  people  enjoyed  a considerable  share  of 
comfort  and  tranquillity. 

Among  the  great  national  works  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury were  several  extensive  canals  for  the  convenience 


186 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  inland  commerce,  with  locks  of  a peculiar  construc- 
tion, or  slides  placed  in  embankments,  over  which  their 
flat-bottomed  vessels,  without  being  unloaded,  were 
hauled  by  ropes  attached  to  large  capstans.  By  means 
of  this  inland  communication,  trade  was  so  much  in- 
creased that  a great  number  of  vessels  came  every  year 
to  the  port  of  Can-fu,  which  was  either  Canton,  or  Kan- 
pu,  near  Hang-cliau;  and  about  the  year  700  A.E.  a 
regular  market  was  opened  there  for  foreign  merchan- 
dise, and  an  imperial  commissioner  was  appointed  to 
receive  the  customs  on  all  goods  imported  from  other 
countries,  which  collectively  produced  a large  revenue 
to  the  government. 

The  sixth  emperor  of  the  Tang  dynasty  founded  the 
Han-lin  College,  the  leading  literary  institution  of  the 
Chinese  empire,  consisting  of  forty  members,  from 
whose  number  the  ministers  of  state  are  generally 
chosen,  and  from  whom  all  successful  candidates  for 
honors  receive  their  degrees.  The  members  of  the 
Han-lin  are  mentioned  in  old  histories  as  the  learned 
doctors  of  the  empire,  and  in  fact  possessed  quite  as 
much  knowledge  in  those  days  as  they  do  now ; for  the 
members  of  the  present  day  are  all  educated  according 
to  the  ancient  system,  nor  have  any  new  branches  of 
learning,  until  recently,  been  introduced  into  the  schools 
of  China ; yet,  when  the  Han-lin  College  was  founded, 
the  Chinese  were  far  in  the  advance  of  the  Europeans, 
both  in  knowledge  and  refinement,  for  the  modern 
nations  of  Europe  were  then  only  just  emerging  from 
the  barbarism  into  which  they  had  been  plunged  by  the 
conquests  of  the  Gothic  tribes.  England  was  divided 
among  the  Saxon  princes  of  the  Heptarchy,  and  France 


THE  MIDDLE' AGES  IN  CHINA. 


187 


was  in  that  rude  state  wliicli  preceded  tire  reign  of 
Charlemagne.  It  may  be  imagined  that  only  a very 
small  proportion  of  the  hoys  in  any  school  were  gifted 
with  such  great  talents  as  would  entitle  them  to  attain 
preferment;  therefore,  of  the  many  who  presented  them- 
selves as  candidates  for  honors  at  the  hall  of  their 
province,  w’here  an  examination  was  held  once  a year, 
very  few  perhaps  were  chosen ; and  those  had  to  pass 
other  examinations  by  doctors  of  a higher  degree  before 
they  were  eligible  to  be  appointed  to  offices  of  state. 
Still,  each  aspirant  had  a chance,  and  as  the  object  was 
so  important,  great  pains  were  taken  to  instill  into  the 
minds  of  youth  a due  sense  of  the  value  of  learning ; 
and  many  little  stories,  written  with  that  intent,  were 
read  to  children  as  soon  as  they  were  of  an  age  to  com- 
prehend them.  These  juvenile  tales  are  mostly  very 
simple,  but  are  not  uninteresting  as  illustrations  of  the 
character  and  manners  of  the  people.  The  following 
are  specimens  of  their  general  style : “ There  was  a boy 
whose  father  was  so  poor  that  he  could  not  afford  to  send 
him  to  school,  but  was  obliged  to  make  him  work  all 
day  in  the  fields  to  help  to  maintain  his  family.  The 
lad  was  so  anxious  to  learn  that  he  proposed  giving  up 
a part  of  the  night  to  study ; but  as  his  mother  had  not 
the  means  of  supplying  him  with  a lamp  for  that  pur- 
pose, he  brought  home  every  evening  a glowworm, 
which,  being  held  in  a thin  piece  of  gauze  and  applied 
to  the  lines  of  a book,  gave  sufficient  light  to  enable 
him  to  read ; and  thus  he  acquired  so  much  know- 
ledge that  in  course  of  time  he  became  a minister  of 
state,  and  supported  his  parents  with  ease  and  comfort 
in  their  old  age.”  Another  youth,  who  was  rather  dull 


188 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  intellect,  found  it  a very  laborious  task  to  apply  him- 
self to  learning,  and  made  such  slow  progress  that  he 
was  often  rather  disheartened ; yet  he  was  not  idle,  and 
for  several  years  continued  to  study  with  unceasing 
diligence.  At  length  the  time  arrived  for  his  exami- 
nation, and  he  repaired,  with  many  others,  to  the  hall 
of  the  province,  where  he  had  the  mortification,  after 
all  his  exertions,  of  being  dismissed  as  unqualified  to  ' 
pass.  In  returning  homeward,  very  much  depressed  in 
spirits,  and  thinking  it  would  be  better  to  give  up  liter- 
ary pursuits  altogether  and  turn  his  attention  to  some 
other  employment,  he  haj^pened  to  see  an  old  woman 
busily  employed  in  rubbing  an  iron  pestle  on  a whet- 
stone. “What  are  you  doing  there,  good  mother?” 
said  he.  “ I am  grinding  down  this  pestle,”  replied  the 
old  dame,  “till  it  becomes  sharp  enough  to  use  for 
working  embroidery and  she  continued  her  employ- 
ment. Li-pi — such  was  the  name  of  the  student — struck 
with  the  patience  and  perseverance  of  the  woman,  ap- 
plied her  answer  to  his  own  case.  “ She  will  no  doubt 
succeed  at  last,”  said  he ; “ then  why  should  I despair  ?” 
So  he  returned  to  his  studies,  and  in  a few  years,  on 
appearing  again  before  the  board,  he  acquitted  himself 
so  well  that  he  passed  with  honor,  and  rose  in  time  to 
one  of  the  highest  offices  in  the  state.  These  short  and 
simple  tales,  of  which  the  Chinese  have  whole  volumes, 
serve  to  show  the  bias  they  have  endeavored  to  give  to 
the  minds  of  their  children,  and  account  for  the  stu- 
dious habits  of  so  large  a portion  of  the  community. 

The  Arabs,  during  the  Tang  dynasty,  still  advanced 
in  prosperity  and  wealth.  They  were  more  civilized  than 
any  Western  Asiatic  nation.  Their  merchants  were  rich, 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


189 


and  lived  in  a style  of  princely  magnificence  in  tlieir 
own  country';  and  at  Canton,  where  many  of  them  went 
to  reside,  they  were  permitted  to  have  a cadi,  or  magis- 
trate, of  the  Mohammedan  religion  to  preside  over  them. 
The  existence  of  an  ancient  mosque  at  Canton,  which 
has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  built  so  long  ago 
as  the  time  here  referred  to,  is  an  evidence  of  their  free- 
dom to  exercise  their  own  form  of  worship.  The  Mo- 
hammedan faith  is  now  professed  by  a great  number  of 
Chinese  subjects  in  different  parts  of  the  empire,  but  is 
perhaps  chiefly  confined  to  those  of  Tartar  origin,  as 
there  must  have  been  many  Moslems,  or  “true  believ- 
ers,” as  they  call  themselves,  among  the  followers  of  the 
great  Tartar  chiefs  of  the  race  of  Zingis  Khan,  whose 
conquests  commenced  an  important  era  in  the  history 
of  China. 

It  was  during  the  latter  part  of  the  Tang  dynasty 
(A.  D.  851-877)  that  the  two  celebrated  Mohammedan 
travelers  whose  accounts  have  been  so  often  quoted 
visited  China  and  resided  at  Canton.  These  Arab  tra- 
ders, though  they  frequently  complained  of  the  rapacity 
and  venality  of  the  mandarins,  give,  on  the  whole,  a 
favorable  account  of  the  country.  They  describe  the 
use  of  copper  money,  the  light,  transparent  and  elegant 
Chinese  porcelain,  their  wine  made  from  rice,  and  other 
things  which  were  never  before  mentioned,  and  which 
are  still  found  in  use  in  that  country.  They  are  the 
first  to  describe  the  use  of  tea  as  a common  beverage 
among  the  Chinese.  They  say : “ The  emperor  reserves 
to  himself  the  revenues  which  arise  from  the  salt-mines, 
and  those  which  are  derived  from  impositions  upon  a 
certain  herb  called  cha  (tea),  which  they  drink  with  hot 


190 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


water,  and  of  which  vast  quantities  are  sold  in  all  the 
cities  of  China.”  They  mention  the  relief  afforded  to 
the  people  from  the  public  granaries  during  famine 
or  scarcity.  They  likewise  mention  the  bamboo  as  the 
great  panacea  in  all  matters  of  police.  By  connecting 
various  disjointed  sentences  and  paragraphs,  we  derive  a 
consistent  account  of  a very  orderly  and  methodical  gov- 
ernment ; but  the  two  Arabian  voyagers  lament  that  re- 
cent revolutions  and  troubles  had  greatly  affected  the 
prosperity  of  the  country  and  the  administration  of 
justice. 

It  was  about  this  period  that  the  strange  custom  was 
first  adopted  in  China  of  binding  the  feet  of  female 
children  to  prevent  their  growth.  The  origin  of  this 
absurd  and  unnatural  practice  is  unknown,  nor  is  it  easy 
to  imagine  what  could  have  induced  women  in  the  first 
instance  thus  to  deform  themselves  ; for,  although  vanity 
may  be  a powerful  incitement  for  the  continuance  of  a 
custom  which  distinguishes  the  higher  from  the  lower 
classes,  it  hardly  accounts  for  the  first  introduction  of 
this  practice,  as  any  other  distinctive  mark,  less  painful 
and  less  inconvenient,  might  have  answered  the  same 
purpose.  The  daughters  of  all  people  of  rank  are 
obliged  to  submit,  at  an  early  age,  to  have  their  feet 
cramped  up  and  tightly  confined  with  bandages,  which 
are  not  removed  for  about  three  years,  when  the  bones 
are  so  far  compressed  that  the  feet  never  assume  their 
natural  shape  and  size.  The  health  of  the  children 
generally  suffers  much  from  the  want  of  proper  exercise 
during  this  cruel  process,  and  the  enjoyment  of  after  life 
must  be  greatly  diminished  by  the  difficulty  which  fe- 
males find  in  walking  or  even  standing  without  support. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


191 


Yet  tliey  are  proud  of  their  very  helplessness,  and  would 
think  it  excessively  vulgar  to  be  able  to  walk  with  a 
firm  and  dignified  step.  The  lower  classes  cannot  follow 
a fashion  which  would  disable  them  from  pursuing  their 
daily  labors,  yet  many  parents  in  a very  humble  station 
of  life  are  not  free  from  the  vanity  of  desiring  to  have 
one  daughter  with  small  feet,  the  prettiest  child  being 
usually  selected  for  that  distinction ; and  such  is  the 
force  of  fashion  that  the  little  damsel  who  is  thus  tor- 
tured and  crij)pled  is  looked  upon  as  an  object  of  envy 
rather  than  of  pity. 

Like  every  other  dynasty  in  China,  that  of  Tang  rap- 
idly degenerated.  Its  emperors  became  mere  tools  in 
the  hands  of  the  eunuchs  of  the  palace,  who  ruled  them 
through  the  women.  The  third  successor  of  the  line  was 
so  influenced  by  one  of  his  wives  that  at  his  death  he  in- 
vested her  with  sovereign  power.  She  reigned  absolutely 
for  about  twenty  years,  and  then  left  her  son  to  succeed 
her,  but  the  son  remained  a slave  to  the  wretched  slaves 
who  had  maintained  her  on  the  throne.  The  power  of  the 
eunuchs  was  at  length  destroyed  by  the  last  emperor  of 
this  race.  Too  weak  to  extirpate  them  himself,  he  called 
in  the  aid  of  a powerful  chief,  who  fulfilled  his  commis- 
sion to  the  letter,  but  subsequently  killed  the  emperor 
and  his  heirs,  and,  after  a course  of  atrocious  cruelties, 
put  an  end  to  the  dynasty  of  Tang  A.  D.  897. 

For  the  space  of  fifty  years  after  the  extinction  of  the 
Tang  dynasty  the  government  was  in  much  the  same 
state  as  it  had  been  three  centuries  before,  when  the 
Tsin  dynasty  was  set  aside  by  the  usurper  Liu-yu ; and 
although  the  present  period  of  anarchy  was  of  so  much 
shorter  duration,  it  witnessed  the  accession  of  five  differ- 


192 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


ent  families,  numbering  in  all  thirteen  emperors,  whose 
reigns  were  very  brief,  most  of  them  having  died  by  some 
kind  of  violence.  Yet  it  was  in  these  turbulent  times  that 
printing  began  to  be  practiced  in  China — an  event  which 
occurred  about  five  hundred  years  before  that  art  was 
known  in  Europe.1  The  method  first  adopted  in  China 
was  to  engrave  the  characters  on  stone;  consequently, 
when  the  impressions  were  taken  off,  the  ground  of  the 
paper  was  black  and  the  letters  were  white.  But  this 
mode  was  shortly  superseded  by  the  invention  of  wooden 
blocks,  cut  in  such  a manner  that  the  letters  were  raised 
instead  of  indented,  and  thus  were  impressed  in  black  on 
a white  ground.  This  mode  of  printing  from  wood  is 
still  practiced  in  China,  and  is  well  adapted  to  the  writ- 
ten language  of  the  Chinese,  as  its  words  are  not  formed 
of  vowels  and  consonants  like  those  of  Western  lan- 
guages ; but  a single  character,  of  which  there  are  many 
thousands,  expresses  a whole  word.  Yet  it  is  necessa- 
rily very  slow ; and  for  this  reason  must  yield  in  the 
end  to  the  use  of  divisible  metal  type  and  of  our  swift 
machinery.  The  superior  beauty  of  the  typography  of 
our  books  already  wins  the  wonder  and  praise  of  the 
Chinese.  Before  the  invention  of  printing  there  must 
have  been  a vast  number  of  Chinese  constantly  employed 
in  writing,  as  they  were  always  a reading  people,  and 
even  the  poorest  peasants  were  able  to  obtain  books  in 
manuscript,  while  in  Europe  a book  was  a thing  un- 
known among  the  lower  classes,  and  seldom  to  be  met 
with  except  in  monasteries  or  the  palaces  of  princes. 

The  troubles  that  followed  the  fall  of  the  Tang  dynasty 
encouraged  the  Eastern  Tartars  to  make  new  irruptions 

1 Paper  had  been  invented  during  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


193 


into  the  empire,  and  one  of  their  chieftains  having  aided 
a fresh  usurper  to  mount  the  imperial  throne,  received 
from  him  in  return  the  grant  of  a large  territory  in  the 
province  of  Pe-che-lee,  with  an  annual  tribute  of  silks ; 
and  thus  the  Tartars  gained  a footing  in  the  north  of 
China  which  laid  the  foundation  of  those  long  and  ter- 
rible wars  that  ended  in  the  first  Tartar  conquest.  But 
ere  these  wars  commenced  there  was  an  interval  of  re- 
pose, in  consequence  of  the  downfall  of  the  last  usurp- 
ing family  of  the  five  petty  dynasties,  and  the  elevation 
of  a race  called  the  Sung,  of  which  there  were  eighteen 
emperors. 

The  founder  of  the  Sung  dynasty  was  a popular  min- 
ister, who  had  also  had  the  command  of  the  armies,  and 
had  distinguished  himself  by  his  courage  no  less  than 
by  his  ability  in  affairs  of  state ; therefore,  as  the  em- 
peror was  dead  and  his  son  was  but  a child,  it  was  de- 
cided by  all  the  military  leaders  and  other  great  men 
that  it  would  be  better  to  place  on  the  throne  a man 
who  was  able  to  defend  the  country  against  its  enemies. 
They  accordingly  fixed  on  the  chief  minister,  and  sent  a 
deputation  to  his  palace  to  invest  him  with  the  yellow 
robe,  and  he  was  proclaimed,  by  the  title  of  Tai-tsu,  in 
the  year  950.  The  names  assumed  by  the  emperors 
usually  had  some  appropriate  meaning ; thus  Tai-tsu  sig- 
nifies “ Great  Sire.”  The  conduct  of  the  new  monarch 
justified  the  high  opinion  which  had  been  formed  of  his 
virtues  and  abilities,  and  he  holds  a place  in  the  history 
of  China  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  its  sovereigns.  His 
mother,  too,  is  reckoned  among  the  illustrious  females 
of  the  empire,  for  the  Chinese  annals  have  preserved  the 
names  of  many  women  distinguished  by  their  superior 

13 


194 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


understanding,  whose  wise  sayings  and  exemplary  con- 
duct are  recorded  as  examples  for  others. 

Under  the  first  and  second  sovereigns  of  the  Sung  line 
the  art  of  printing  was  improved,  and  still  farther  dis- 
seminated. Books  were  greatly  multiplied,  and  to  these 
causes  may  be  attributed  the  increased  fullness  of  the 
records  of  this  period,  from  which  the  most  interesting 
portion  of  Chinese  history  commences.*  “ Our  lights 
now  multiply  fast,  and  the  Tartars  begin  to  take  a great 
share  in  the  national  transactions.  In  fact,  the  whole 
history  of  this  polished  but  unwarlike  race  is  a series  of 
disgraceful  arts  of  compromise  with  the  Eastern  Tartars, 
called  Kin  (the  origin  of  the  Manchus,  or  present  reign- 
ing family),  until  the  Mongols,  or  Western  Tartars,  took 
possession  of  the  empire  under  Ivublai  Khan.”  1 The 
emperors  were  even  content  to  purchase  temporary  ces- 
sations from  war  by  the  payment  of  tribute — a plan  which 
was  pursued  by  the  Saxon  king  of  England  at  that  very 
time,  in  order  to  keep  off  the  invasion  of  the  Danes ; and 
in  both  cases  it  proved  equally  ineffectual.  Yet  the 
commercial  intercourse  with  Arabia  and  Persia  had  con- 
tinued to  increase,  and  great  portions  of  the  empire 
might  be  said  to  be  in  a prosperous  condition.  The 
first  emperor  of  this  line  paid  great  attention  to  the 
improvement  of  his  army,  but  it  was  not  possible  either 
to  give  that  army  a good  organization  or  to  revive  in  it 
a martial  spirit. 

In  the  reign  of  the  third  emperor  of  the  Sung  dynasty 
were  established  the  famous  porcelain  furnaces  at  King- 
ti-cliin,  a large  village  in  the  province  of  Kiang-si,  wrhere 
all  the  best  china  is  still  made.  These  manufactories 

1 Sir  J.  F.  Davis,  The  Chinese,  etc. 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IE  CHINA. 


195 


were  erected  about  tlie  year  1000  A.D.,  and  still  afford 
employment  to  many  thousands  of  people.  At  that 
time  porcelain  was  one  of  the  principal  articles  of  ex- 
port, to  winch  were  added  silks  and  spices ; for  although 
the  Chinese  had  no  spices  in  their  own  country  except 
coarse  pepper,  still  they  were  able  to  obtain  abundance 
of  the  finer  sorts  of  them  in  their  trade  with  the  neigh- 
boring islands ; »and  about  this  time  they  took  possession 
of  the  Moluccas,  or  Spice  Islands,  which  they  retained 
above  sixty  years,  when  they  were  dispossessed  by  the 
Malays,  who  were  soon  obliged  to  give  them  up  to  the 
Arabs.  Tea  had  not  yet  become  an  article  of  foreign 
trade,  although  it  was  in  very  general  use  among  the 
natives  of  China. 

In  the  reign  of  Chin-tsung,  the  third  emperor  of  the 
line  of  Sung,  the  Kin,  or  Eastern  Tartars,  laid  siege  to 
a town  near  Peking ; they  were  obliged  to  suspend  the 
siege  and  to  enter  into  negotiations ; yet  they  obtained 
from  their  unwarlike  foes  very  advantageous  terms,  with 
a large  annual  donation  or  tribute  of  money  and  silk. 
Under  Jin-tsung,  the  fourth  emperor,  the  Chinese  en- 
tered into  a still  more  disgraceful  treaty.  Ten  exten- 
sive districts  within  the  Great  Wall  were  claimed  by 
the  Eastern  Tartars,  who  received  an  annual  quit-rent 
of  two  hundred  thousand  taels,1  and  an  enormous  quan- 
tity of  silk.  This  emperor  even  submitted  to  be  styled, 
and  to  call  himself,  in  his  treaties  with  the  Tartar  chiefs, 
a tributary. 

Under  each  succeeding  ruler  of  the  Sung  family  the 
decline  of  the  empire  was  more  and  more  accelerated. 
There  was  nothing  but  vice  and  effeminacy  in  the 

1 Equal  to  $280,000  in  specie  with  us. 


196 


THE  OLDEST  AXD  THE  EE  WEST  EMPIRE. 


palace,  and  rank  cowardice  in  the  field.  Large  armies 
took  to  flight  at  the  first  distant  appearance  of  a few 
squadrons  of  Tartar  horse.  "Wei-tsung,  the  eighth  em- 
peror of  this  line,  enslaved  himself  to  conjurors  and  im- 
postors, who  promised  him  longevity  and  wealth,  and  to 
those  old  pests  of  the  country — the  eunuchs  of  the 
palace — who  were  again  found  in  incredible  numbers, 
and  in  possession  of  all  the  keys  to  honor,  promotion  or 
public  employment,  whether  military  or  civil.  Encour- 
aged by  the  weakness  and  imbecility  of  this  ruler,  and 
the  spiritless,  abject  attitude  of  his  people,  the  Eastern 
Tartars  advanced  at  a rapid  pace,  took  possession  of  a 
good  part  of  Northern  China,  and  threatened  the  whole 
empire  with  their  iron  conquest.  In  this  extremity  the 
Chinese  applied  for  aid  to  the  Mongols,  or  "Western 
Tartars,  who  had  already  conquered  India,  and  who 
now  inhabited  the  vast  elevated  plains  which  extend 
from  the  north-west  of  China  to  Tibet  and  Samarkand. 
These  hardy  warriors  eagerly  accepted  the  invitation, 
and  in.brief  space  of  time  they  subdued  both  the  Eastern 
Tartars,  who  were  their  rivals  for  dominion,  and  the 
enervated  Chinese  whom  they  had  been  invited  to  pro- 
tect. It  was  now  found  that  trade,  wealth,  literature 
and  refinement  cannot  defend  a state,  that  pacific  habits 
do  not  ensure  peace  or  exemption  from  foreign  conquest, 
and  that  every  country  which  would  preserve  its  tran- 
quillity, its  riches,  its  independence  and  its  other  bless- 
ings, must  keep  alive  its  martial  ardor  and  be  at  all 
times  ready  to  maintain  a war. 

In  the  very  populous  cities  of  the  empire  which 
attempted  to  stand  sieges  the  slaughter  was  terrific,  and 
was  estimated  by  the  Chinese  annalists  at  millions  of 


THE  MIDDLE  AGES  IN  CHINA. 


197 


souls.  We  turn  from  tlie  revolting  details  to  give  the 
great  results. 

By  the  year  1234  the  Mongols,  or  Western  Tartars, 
were  absolute  masters  of  the  northern  half  of  modern 
China.  The  Kin,  or  Eastern  Tartars,  who  until  then 
had  occupied  some  of  the  provinces  bordering  on  the 
Great  Wall,  were  attacked  on  one  side  by  the  Chinese, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  Mongols,  under  the  command 
of  the  celebrated  Pih-yen  ( Hundred  Eyes) , who  is  men- 
tioned by  Marco  Polo.  Their  principal  city,  called  Kai- 
fung,  and  described  as  being  then  the  largest  city  in  the 
world,  containing  a population  of  more  than  two  millions 
of  souls,  was  invested  twice,  and  taken  at  the  second 
siege,  after  another  deplorable  sacrifice  of  human  life. 
The  last  prince  of  these  Eastern  Tartars  strangled  him- 
self in  his  despair;  all  his  principal  officers  and  five  hun- 
dred other  persons  plunged  into  the  river  and  perished. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 

rT!HE  time  liad  come  when  China  should  he  brought 
into  closer  communion  with  the  other  members  of 
the  great  family  of  nations.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
we  begin  to  trace  over  the  whole  world  the  first  throes 
of  the  regeneration  which  became  manifest  when  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  circumnavigated,  America  dis- 
covered, society  renovated  by  a flood  of  inventions  in 
the  useful  arts,  and  the  Word  and  Truth  of  God  again 
given  to  the  waiting  souls  of  men  through  the  labors  of 
the  great  Reformers.  The  conquests  of  the  Mongols  in 
Asia  and  Europe  performed  the  same  office  in  preparing 
the  way  for  those  events,  wherever  their  influence  was 
felt,  which  the  conquests  of  Rome  had  performed  in  pre- 
paring that  for  the  Founder  of  the  Dispensation  of  grace. 

The  history  of  Zingis  Khan  and  his  successors  is  one 
of  the  most  stirring  and  romantic  on  record.  It  sounds 
like  a fiction  to  tell  that  an  obscure,  nomadic  tribe  of 
Tartars  was  raised  up  by  the  hand  of  Providence  to  such 
a height  of  greatness  and  power  that  in  three  genera- 
tions its  chiefs  conquered  the  world  from  the  coasts  of  the 
Pacific  ocean  on  the  east  to  the  heart  of  Europe  on  the 
west;  that  the  empires  of  China,  India,  Persia  and 
Russia  were  all  subject  to  them  ; that  they  extended 

198 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


199 


tlieir  borders  even  into  Silesia;  and  that  France,  Spain, 
Sweden  and  Britain  gave  themselves  to  fasting  and 
prayer  to  God  as  their  only  hope  of  protection ; and 
that  the  fountain  and  most  important  centre  of  this 
stupendous  empire,  far  more  extensive  than  any  that 
had  preceded  it  on  earth,  was  within  the  Chinese 
dominions,  in  which  its  great  potentate,  Ivublai  Khan, 
built  the  new  capital,  Peking,  which  is  now  the  seat  of 
another  Tartar  family,  the  Manchus.  But  almost  as 
astonishing  as  the  growth  of  the  Mongol  empire  was  its 
decay  when  the  ends  of  the  Governor  of  nations  had 
been  subserved  by  it.  Drunk  with  its  sudden  and 
boundless  power,  its  nine  emperors  followed  one  after 
another  in  short,  dissolute  and  shameful  reigns,  which 
only  lasted  in  all  for  the  brief  period  of  eighty-eight 
years. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  introduction  of  the  Mon- 
gol power  into  the  north  of  China  have  been  mentioned 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a people  so  active  and 
warlike  as  the  Mongols  would  long  remain  satisfied  with 
the  northern  and  poorer  half  of  the  country,  and  leave 
the  fertile,  rich  and  delightful  regions  of  the  south  to  a 
people  so  unwarlike  as  the  Chinese.  This  was  still  less 
likely  when  a great  warrior,  statesman  and  administrator, 
such  as  Kublai  Khan,  the  grandson  of  Zingis,  ascended 
the  Mongol  throne.  Finding  himself  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  all  the  north  of  China,  and  with  a count- 
less reserve  of  light  cavalry  in  the  regions  beyond  the 
Great  Wall,  Kublai  took  advantage  of  the  infancy  of 
the  reigning  Chinese  emperor  to  use  an  argument  con- 
venient to  his  purpose.  “Your  family,”  said  he,  “owes 


200 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


its  rise  to  the  minority  of  the  last  emperor  of  the  pre- 
ceding dynasty ; it  is  therefore  just  that  you,  a child, 
and  the  last  remnant  of  the  line  of  Sung,  should  giye 
place  to  another  family.” 

The  Mongols  rapidly  approached  the  imperial  city ; 
the  whole  court  fled  in  the  utmost  consternation,  and 
went  on  board  some  junks  which  were  lying  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Canton  river.  Tartar  vessels  were  sent  in 
jmrsuit  of  the  wretched  fugitives,  whose  terror  at  the 
sight  of  the  hostile  fleet  seems  to  have  amounted  to  mad- 
ness ; for  one  of  the  grandees,  seizing  the  infant  em- 
peror in  his  arms,  jumped  with  him  into  the  sea,  and  was 
instantly  followed  by  the  empress  and  the  chief  minis- 
ters, who  thus  all  perished.  This  was  in  the  year  1281. 

Thus  Kublai  Khan  was  left  in  undisputed  possession 
of  the  whole  empire,  but  the  conquest  had  not  been 
achieved  without  much  bloodshed  and  numerous  acts  of 
revolting  barbarity.  But  when  the  great  object  was  ac- 
complished, and  the  Mongol  emperor  acknowledged  by 
the  Chinese  as  their  sovereign,  he  endeavored  to  win 
their  affections  by  conferring  benefits  upon  them,  and 
sought  to  establish  his  power  on  the  firm  basis  of  popu- 
lar esteem,  rather  than  suffer  it  to  rest  on  the  uncertain 
foundation  of  that  terror  which  his  name  had  hitherto 
inspired. 

Xever  did  a more  illustrious  prince  ascend  an  Eastern 
throne,  and  never  was  there  one  more  revered  than 
Kublai  Khan ; and,  although  a conqueror  and  of  a 
foreign  race,  he  was  deservedly  called  the  father  of  his 
people,  who  had  no  cause  to  regret,  beyond  their  pre- 
vious sufferings,  the  revolution  that  had  placed  him  at 
the  head  of  the  empire.  He  wisely  abstained  from 


the  Mongol  dynasty. 


201 


making  any  alterations  in  tlie  political  institutions  of  the 
Chinese,  nor  did  lie  interfere  with  any  of  their  ancient 
customs ; the  high  functionaries  who  had  submitted  to 
his  authority  were  suffered  to  retain  their  employment, 
and  in  the  distribution  of  offices  of  state  no  unjust  par- 
tiality was  shown  toward  the  Tartars ; and  thus  peace 
was  preserved  between  the  conquerors  and  the  con- 
quered. The  Chinese  gladly  accepted  an  exemption 
from  military  service,  so  that  the  sword  remained  almost 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Mongols,  whose  dis- 
cipline and  subordination  to  the  civil  authority  appear 
to  have  been  exemplary  throughout  the  reign  of  this 
truly  illustrious  prince. 

The  tribute  or  rent  imposed  on  the  natives  of  the 
country  was  a tenth  part  of  all  the  silk,  rice,  wool,  hemp 
and  other  produce  of  their  land,  except  sugar  and  spices, 
on  which  only  a very  small  duty  was  levied  ; but  those 
duties  were  not  levied  on  the  mechanics,  who,  for  their 
tribute,  were  obliged  to  work  for  the  government  one 
day  in  nine,  which  amounted  to  a ninth  part  of  their 
labor ; and  on  these  days  they  were  employed  in  keep- 
ing the  public  edifices  in  repair  and  making  clothes  and 
warlike  implements  for  the  army. 

The  new  emperor,  under  the  Chinese  name  of  Shi- 
tsu,  fixed  the  seat  of  government  at  Peking,  or  Kambalu, 
as  it  was  styled  by  the  Tartars  and  our  early  travelers. 
Kambalu  was  near  the  ancient  city  of  Yen-king,  a por- 
tion of  which  was  destroyed  when  it  was  stormed  by  the 
Eastern  Tartars. 

Peking,  or  Kambalu,  in  the  time  of  Kublai  Khan,  was 
a wealthy  and  populous  city,  containing  numerous  shops 
■tfell  stocked  with  the  rich  merchandise  of  Persia  and 


202 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Arabia ; for  as  soon  as  peace  was  restored  a consider- 
able trade  was  carried  on  overland  with  those  countries, 
from  which  the  caravans  arrived  regularly  every  year. 
Their  merchants  were  lodged  in  hotels  or  caravan- 
serais, of  which  there  were  many  in  the  suburbs  built 
expressly  for  the  accommodation  of  foreign  traders,  each 
nation  having  its  own  particular  hotels  and  storehouses. 

The  commerce  of  the  empire  had  now  increased  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  adopt  a 
more  convenient  kind  of  money  than  the  small  copper 
coinage  that  was  in  general  use ; therefore  Kublai  Ivhan 
put  into  circulation  paper  money,  similar  to  our  bank- 
notes, made  of  paper  manufactured  (like  most  of  that 
now  used  by  the  Japanese)  out'of  the  inner  bark  of  the 
mulberry  tree,  and  stamped  with  his  own  mark,  to  coun- 
terfeit which  was  a crime  punishable  with  death.  This 
great  prince  seems  to  have  paid  more  attention  to  the 
interests  of  commerce  than  any  of  the  emperors  who  had 
preceded  him ; and  to  him  the  Chinese  are  indebted  for 
one  of  the  grandest  of  their  national  works — the  Great 
Canal — which  forms  the  principal  link  in  the  communi- 
cation by  water  between  the  southern  part  of  the  empire 
and  Peking. 

The  want  of  good  roads  had  always  been  a check  to 
the  internal  trade  of  China,  and  this  disadvantage  was 
at  once  perceived  by  the  emperor,  who  projected  and 
carried  into  execution  a design  for  facilitating  the  inter- 
course between  the  chief  cities.  This  was  effected  by 
turning  the  waters  of  some  of  the  lakes  into  artificial 
channels,  which  were  made  to  communicate  with  the 
rivers;  many  branches  also  extending  to  towns  that 
were  not  in  their  course.  One  hundred  and  seventy 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


203 


thousand  men  were  employed  for  years  in  the  con- 
struction of  this  mighty  work,  which  was  completed 
under  the  immediate  successors  of  Kublai,  and  which, 
for  real  utility,  far  surpasses  the  Great  Wall,  being  at 
this  moment  of  the  utmost  benefit  to  the  Chinese,  whose 
inland  trade  would  be  very  limited  without  it,  as  the 
means  of  land-carriage  are  few,  and  both  tedious  and 
expensive.  Another  great  advantage  of  this  canal  was, 
that  it  answered  the  purpose  of  draining  large  tracts  of 
marshy  but  fertile  land,  which  had  till  then  been  quite 
useless,  but  were  thus  rendered  fit  for  cultivation. 

For  nearly  the  length  of  a thousand  English  miles 
this  grand  canal  affords  the  means  of  a safe,  uninter- 
rupted and  commodious  inland  navigation;  and  from  it 
are  derived  the  means  of  irrigating  a vast  extent  of 
country  on  either  of  its  banks.  On  these  banks,  like- 
wise, are  constructed  strong  and  wide  terraces,  upon 
which  traveling  by  land  is  rendered  perfectly  conveni- 
ent. “ This  magnificent  work,”  says  our  earliest  Euro- 
pean traveler  in  the  Chinese  empire,  “ is  deserving  of  all 
admiration ; and  not  so  much  from  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  conducted  through  the  country  or  its  vast  extent, 
as  from  its  great  utility,  and  the  benefit  it  produces  to 
those  innumerable  cities  which  lie  in  its  course.  No 
man  may  count  the  number  of  bridges  by  which  it  is 
crossed.” 

By  the  admirable  police  organized  under  Ivublai 
Khan,  the  Great  Canal  and  its  side  communications 
were  kept  perfectly  safe  for  the  traveler.  In  case  of 
any  accident  by  land  or  water,  or  of  sickness  on  the 
route,  houses  were  erected  on  the  banks,  and  supplied 
with  proper  persons  to  afford  succor  and  assistance. 


204  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

Many  of  these  humane  establishments  have  disappeared, 
but  many  yet  remain,  and  are  still  used  in  case  of  need. 
The  expenses  are  wholly  borne  by  the  state  or  from  cha- 
ritable contributions.  Some  of  these  hospices  are  described 
as  extensive,  commodious  and  even  elegant  establishments. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Ivublai,  before 
he  had  become  master  of  the  whole  empire,  that  China 
was  for  the  first  time  visited  by  the  European  travelers 
who  have  left  on  record  any  full  and  satisfactory  narra- 
tive of  what  they  saw,  and  these  were  fortunate  enough 
to  be  admitted  to  the  court  of  the  Great  Khan  and  hon- 
ored by  his  confidence  and  friendship. 

Matteo  and  Nicolo  Polo  were  two  merchants  of 
Venice,  who,  having  occasion  to  make  a journey  into 
Persia,  heard  so  much  there  respecting  the  splendor  of 
the  imperial  court  that  they  felt  a great  desire  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  distant  city  of  Kambalu,  which 
they  found  means  to  visit  by  accompanying  a Persian 
ambassador  who  was  charged  with  despatches  for  the 
emperor.  They  were  received  with  the  greatest  courtesy 
by  Kublai,  who  was  well  pleased  at  meeting  with  such 
an  opportunity  of  gaining  some  correct  information 
respecting  the  people  of  Europe,  and  made  many  inqui- 
ries on  the  subject  of  different  European  countries.  He 
put  minute  and  very  sensible  questions  as  to  their  relig- 
ion, civil  polity,  forms  of  government,  modes  of  admin- 
istering justice  and  their  system  and  conduct  of  war- 
fare. The  Polos,  who  were  men  of  intelligence  and  wit, 
satisfied  him  on  these  particulars,  and  gave  him  ample 
information  concerning  the  pope,  whose  influence  in 
pushing  the  nations  of  Europe  upon  Asia  in  the  Cru- 
sades had  rendered  him  important  in  the  eyes  of  Kublai 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


205 


Khan.  The  two  enterprising  brothers  made  themselves 
well  acquainted  with  the  Mongol  language,  so  that  they 
had  no  need  of  interpreters,  but  spoke  directly  with  the 
great  Tartar  ruler — a vast  advantage,  as  all  must  feel 
who  have  had  intercourse  with  any  Oriental  people 
through  the  medium  of  dragomans.  In  consequence 
of  the  conversations  he  held  with  these  Venetians, 
Ivublai,  who  was  himself  a votary  of  the  Buddhist 
faith,  was,  nevertheless,  so  highly  impressed  with  their 
representation  of  the  excellence  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion that  he  despatched  by  them  a letter  to  the  pope, 
containing  a request  that  his  Holiness  would  send  proper 
persons  to  instruct  the  Chinese  in  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity;  and  the  Venetian  travelers  departed  on 
this  extraordinary  mission. 

They  were  furnished  with  a pass,  or  golden  tablet, 
displaying  the  imperial  cipher,  according  to  the  usage 
established  by  his  majesty;  in  virtue  of  which  the  per- 
sons bearing  it,  together  with  their  whole  suite,  are 
safely  conveyed  from  station  to  station  by  the  governors 
of  all  places  within  the  imperial  dominions,  and  are 
entitled,  during  the  time  of  their  residing  in  any  city, 
castle,  town  or  village,  to  a supply  of  provisions  and 
everything  necessary  for  their  accommodation.  In  the 
vulgar  dialect  gotten  up  between  the  Chinese  and  foreign 
merchants  on  the  coast  this  is  now  termed  the  emperor’s 
grand  chop , a word  used  to  express  seal,  mark,  warrant 
or  license  or  passport.  Passports  existed  in  China 
many  centuries  before  they  were  introduced  into  Europe. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  a Chinese  passport  is  a much 
better  thing  for  the  bearer  than  a European  one,  as  it 
ensures  him  gratuitous  lodging  and  accommodation,  and, 


206 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


generally,  food  on  tlie  road.  A Tartar  nobleman  was 
also  sent  with  them,  and  was  to  accompany  them  all  the 
way  to  the  pope  of  Rome ; but  he  sank  under  ill-health 
and  the  fatigues  of  the  journey,  and  the  Polos  were 
obliged  to  leave  him  behind  before  they  had  traveled 
more  than  twenty  days.  So  far  as  the  vast  Mongol 
dominions  extended  the  golden  tablet  or  passport  pro- 
cured them  hospitality,  attention,  horses  and  mounted 
escorts,  and  whatever  assistance  they  and  their  numerous 
suite  required.  They  were  as  safe  and  as  well  treated 
in  the  wilds  of  Tartary  as  in  the  regions  southward  of 
the  Great  Wall. 

Several  years  had  passed  away,  during  which  the 
khan  had  been  so  much  engaged  in  prosecuting  the 
war  against  the  southern  provinces  of  China  that  he 
had  almost  forgotten  the  Venetians,  whose  first  visit  had 
taken  place  long  before  that  conquest ; nor  was  the  war 
yet  quite  ended  when  they  returned,  accompanied  by 
Marco  Polo,  the  son  of  one  of  them,  and  the  most  cele- 
brated of  the  three,  since  it  was  he  who  wrote,  on  his 
return  to  Italy,  an  account  of  the  Chinese  empire,  or 
kingdom  of  Cathay,  where  he  had  resided  no  less  than 
seventeen  years,  during  which  he  had  enjoyed,  without 
interruption,  the  favor  of  the  emperor. 

At  this  period  so  little  was  known  of  China  in  the 
Western  world  that  the  history  of  Marco  Polo  gained 
but  little  credit,  and  failed  to  enlighten  the  people  of 
the  age  with  regard  to  that  great  country.  In  fact,  there 
were  very  few  who  knew  anything  about  the  traveler  or 
the  book  he  had  written ; for  the  art  of  printing  being 
then  unknown  in  Europe,  knowledge  was  but  slowly  and 
partially  diffused,  and  those  who  read  the  work  thought 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


207 


it  so  improbable  that  they  treated  the  whole  narrative 
as  a fiction.  The  extent  and  wealth  of  Cathay,  the 
splendor  of  its  court,  the  number  of  its  cities,  the  beauty 
of  its  manufactures,  the  order  of  its  government,  all 
faithfully  described  by  the  author,  were  read  with  a 
smile  of  incredulity ; nor  was  it  till  a much  later  period, 
when  the  country  was  visited  by  other  Europeans,  that 
justice  was  done  to  his  veracity.  In  fact,  full  justice 
was  never  rendered  to  this  illustrious  traveler  until  the 
year  1818,  when  the  learned  Mr.  William  Marsden  pub- 
lished his  translation  and  edition,  under  the  title  of 
“The  Travels  of  Marco  Polo,  a Venetian,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century ; being  a Description,  by  that  Early 
Traveler,  of  Remarkable  Places  and  Things  in  the  East- 
ern Part  of  the  World.”  This  quarto  volume  of  860 
pages  contains  the  results  of  many  years  of  labor  de- 
voted to  the  task  of  substantiating  the  authority  of  the 
old  traveler.  The  comments,  notes  and  dissertations  are 
hardly  to  be  numbered,  and  they  are  as  valuable  as  they 
are  numerous.  Other  travelers  and  navigators  of  all 
ages  and  of  all  nations  are  quoted  wherever  they  de- 
scribe the  countries  or  places  visited  by  Marco ; and 
from  the  mass  of  evidence  thus  collected,  Mr.  Marsden 
has  established,  beyond  the  reach  of  rational  doubt,  that 
the  long-calumniated  Venetian  is  in  the  main  most  re- 
markably veracious  and  correct  in  his  descriptions.  Of 
these  descriptions  a very  large  portion  relate  exclusively 
to  China  and  its  dependencies. 

But  to  resume  the  subject  of  our  history.  When 
the  Polos  set  out  on  their  return  to  China,  they  had 
with  them  two  preaching  friars,  deputed  as  missionaries 
by  Pope  Gregory  X.,  who  also  sent  letters  to  the  khan ; 


208 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE , 


but  some  of  the  states  of  Syria,  through  which  the 
travelers  had  to  pass,  were  in  a state  of  warfare,  and  the 
friars  were,  from  untoward  circumstances,  prevented  from 
proceeding,  while  the  Polos,  after  encountering  many 
difficulties  and  dangers,  safely  reached  their  destination. 
This  was  about  the  time  when  the  Crusades  were  draw- 
ing to  a close,  and  the  year  in  which  the  three  Italians 
arrived  at  the  court  of  Kublai  Khan  was  A.  D.  1274, 
the  same  in  which  Edward  I.  returned  to  England  from 
the  Holy  Land. 

They  found  Kublai  Khan  at  Yen-king,  near  Ivam- 
balu,  or  Peking,  in  the  midst  of  his  court  and  great  offi- 
cers of  state.  They  performed  the  ko-tau  or  nine  pros- 
trations, as  they  are  now  practiced  in  the  Chinese  court ; 
and  Marco’s  father  and  uncle,  then  rising,  related  in 
perspicuous  language  all  that  they  had  done  since  their 
departure,  and  all  that  had  happened  to  them,  the 
khan  listening  with  attentive  silence.  The  letters  and 
presents  of  the  pope  were  nest  laid  before  the  tolerant 
Tartar  conqueror,  who,  it  is  said,  received  with  pe- 
culiar reverence  some  oil  from  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at 
J erusalem. 

The  emperor  testified  much  delight  at  the  return  of 
his  former  visitors,  and  was  so  much  pleased  with  young 
Marco  that  he  conferred  on  him  a high  post  at  the  court, 
and  employed  him  on  missions  to  various  parts  of  the 
empire.  Marco  had  therefore  sufficient  opportunities  of 
observing  the  state  of  the  country  as  well  as  the  man- 
ners of  the  court.  He  tells  us  himself  that  he  was  held 
in  high  estimation  and  respect  by  all  belonging  to  the 
court,  and  that  he  learned  in  a short  time  and  adopted 
the  manners  of  the  Tartars,  and  acquired  a proficiency  in 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


209 


four  different  languages,  which  he  became  qualified  to 
read  and  write. 

The  cities  were,  at  this  period,  thronged  with  indus- 
trious artizans,  who  commonly  worked  at  their  own 
homes,  and  sold  the  produce  of  their  labor  to  the  Wealthy 
merchants,  who  traded  principally  to  India ; from  which 
country  the  manufactures  and  produce  of  China  were 
conveyed  to  Alexandria,  and  from  that  port  were  trans- 
ported to  Venice,  where  they  were  all  received  under 
the  general  name  of  Indian  goods ; and  thus  the  Chinese 
were  for  a long  time  considered  the  same  people  as  the 
Indians,  and  their  country  was  supposed  to  he  the  most 
remote  part  of  India. 

Among  the  many  improvements  made  by  Kublai 
Khan  during  his  beneficent  reign  was  the  establishment 
of  inns  or  post-houses,  commencing  from  the  capital  and 
continued  at  intervals  of  about  thirty-six  miles  to  all  the 
principal  places  in  the  empire,  and  at  these  stations  relays 
of  horses  were  always  kept  in  readiness  for  the  emperor’s 
messengers,  who  were  there  also  furnished  with  the  re- 
quisite food  and  lodging.  There  were  also  ferry-boats 
at  convenient  stations  to  carry  them  across  the  rivers 
and  lakes  without  delay,  so  that  in  case  of  need  a mes- 
senger could  travel  two  hundred  miles  in  the  twenty- 
four  hours ; and  by  these  means  fine  fruits  and  other 
luxuries  for  the  court  and  rich  citizens  were  often  con- 
veyed from  the  most  distant  provinces  to  Peking — an 
advantage  which  that  city  would  not  so  readily  have  en- 
joyed otherwise,  since  it  stands  in  a cold  and  barren 
plain,  and  depends  for  its  supplies  on  the  more  fertile 
districts  of  the  south. 

These  supplies  were,  as  now,  obtained  by  the  generality 

14 


210 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  the  inhabitants  by  means  of  the  Great  Canal,  which  was 
constantly  covered  with  barges  laden  chiefly  with  grain. 
A great  number  of  these  barges  were  employed  between 
the  different  provinces  and  the  capital  in  conveying  the 
tribute,  out  of  which,  when  the  harvest  was  abundant, 
the  emperor  laid  up  in  his  granaries  stores  of  rice  and 
corn,  which  in  years  of  scarcity  he  sold  to  the  poor  at  a 
cheap  rate.  Although,  therefore,  the  taxes  were  heavy, 
the  people  derived  benefit  from  them  when  they  stood 
most  in  need  of  assistance,  and  they  were  always  re- 
mitted, or  at  least  much  lightened,  in  a season  of  public 
calamity.  Everything,  indeed,  appears  to  have  been 
done  by  this  beneficent  prince  that  could  tend  to  in- 
crease the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  his  subjects,  who 
seem  to  have  enjoyed,  under  his  paternal  government, 
the  blessings  of  peace  in  their  fullest  extent. 

Among  the  first  things  which  struck  Marco  Polo  were 
the  orderly  air  of  the  people,  the  strictness  of  the  police, 
the  populousness  of  the  superior  cities,  the  extent  and 
usefulness  of  the  Grand  Canal,  and  the  immense  number 
of  bridges  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  where  rivers  ran  or 
canals  were  dug.  In  describing  “ the  noble  and  magnifi- 
cent city  of  Kin-sai,”  then  the  capital  of  Southern  China, 
which  is  traversed  by  a river  and  many  canals,  he  says : 
“ It  is  commonly  reported  here  that  the  number  of 
bridges  of  all  sizes  amounts  to  twelve  thousand.”  He 
adds:  “Those  which  are  thrown  over  the  principal 
canals,  and  are  connected  with  the  main  streets,  have 
arches  so  high,  and  built  with  so  much  skill,  that  the 
vessels  of  the  country  can  pass  under  them  without 
lowering  their  masts,  whilst  at  the  same  time  carts  and 
horses  are  passing  over  their  heads,  so  well  is  the  slope 


TUE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


211 


from  the  street  adapted  to  the  height  of  the  arch.  In 
fact,  as  the  river  or  the  canals  run  everywhere,  if  the 
bridges  were  not  so  numerous  there  would  be  no  conve- 
nience of  crossing  from  one  place  to  another.” 

In  all  the  cities  good  order  was  preserved,  and  no  one 
was  allowed  to  be  abroad  after  dark,  except  on  urgent 
business,  when  he  was  required  to  carry  a lantern — a 
regulation  which  prevented  robberies  or  disturbances  in 
the  streets  at  night.  In  the  centre  of  the  capital  there  was 
an  enormous  bell,  suspended  in  a lofty  building,  so  placed 
that  it  could  be  heard  all  over  the  city ; and  this  was 
tolled  every  evening  at  a certain  hour,  as  a signal  for  all 
persons  to  retire  to  their  homes ; as  the  curfew,  in  olden 
times,  was  rung  at  eve,  to  warn  the  people  of  England 
that  it  was  time  to  extinguish  the  cheerful  blaze  and  be- 
take themselves  to  repose. 

As  soon  as  Kublai  had  completed  the  conquest  of 
China,  he  sent  an  ambassador  to  the  sovereign  of  the 
Japan  islands,  who  was  an  independent  prince,  ruling 
over  a numerous  and  not  uncivilized  people.  The  object 
of  this  embassy  was  to  demand  submission  and  tribute 
of  the  Japanese  monarch  as  a vassal  of  the  Chinese 
empire ; and  when  the  indignant  chief  refused  to  comply 
with  so  unjust  a requisition,  the  emperor  declared  war 
against  him,  and  sent  out  a large  fleet  in  the  hope  of 
making  another  important  conquest. 

The  Japanese,  however,  made  a successful  resistance; 
and  by  the  help  of  a storm,  which  destroyed  the  greater 
part  of  the  Tartar  fleet,  they  were  fortunate  enough  to 
preserve  that  independence  which  they  have  maintained 
to  this  day. 

The  Tartar  conquest  produced  no  alteration  in  the 


212 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


manners  and  customs  of  the  native  Chinese,  -which,  in- 
deed, as  before  observed,  appear  not  to  have  been  affected 
by  any  of  the  revolutions  that  have  taken  place  in  the 
country — all  the  national  festivals  being  observed  as  in 
former  times,  and  the  same  laws  remaining  in  force  that 
have  so  direct  and  powerful  an  influence  on  the  charac- 
ter and  social  habits  of  the  people  of  China. 

The  garments  worn  by  the  mass  of  the  population  were 
at  this  time  still  made  of  silk,  for  although  cotton  was 
then  cultivated  for  the  purpose  of  being  manufactured, 
it  was  not  so  plentiful  as  silk,  consequently  it  was  much 
more  expensive,  and  only  used  by  persons  of  high  rank ; 
but  the  case  is  now  entirely  reversed,  since  at  the  present 
day  the  rich  alone  wear  silks,  while  the  poor  are  com- 
monly clothed  in  cotton. 

One  of  the  great  festivals  described  by  Marco  Polo  as 
having  been  observed  in  China  during  the  reign  of 
Kublai  Khan  was  the  birth-day  of  that  great  prince, 
which  was  a universal  holiday,  and  celebrated  through- 
out the  empire  with  all  kinds  of  public  rejoicings.  Sac- 
rifices were  made  in  the  temples,  the  cities  were  illumi- 
nated, and  people  of  all  classes  spent  the  day  in  feasting 
and  amusements.  Among  the  latter  were  dramatic  pieces 
performed  by  companies  of  strolling  players,  either  in 
temporary  theatres  set  up  in  the  streets  for  the  delight 
of  the  commonalty,  or  in  the  houses  of  the  principal  mag- 
istrates, who  usually  hired  actors  on  grand  occasions,  as 
they  do  still,  for  the  entertainment  of  their  guests. 

The  emperor  appeared  on  this  festive  day  arrayed  in 
a robe  of  cloth  of  gold,  his  whole  dress  glittering  with 
jewels,  and  was  attended  by  all  the  chief  officers  of  his 
court  in  their  magnificent  state  dresses,  who  stood  around 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


213 


the  throne  while  he  received  the  homage  of  the  tributary- 
princes  who  came  to  offer  their  congratulations.  The 
banquet  given  at  the  palace  on  this  occasion  was  ex- 
tremely sumptuous,  and  graced  with  the  presence  of  the 
empress  and  ladies  of  the  court,  for  the  Tartar  ladies 
were  less  secluded  in  their  habits  than  the  Chinese,  and 
when  they  first  arrived  in  the  country  were  frequently 
seen  on  public  occasions,  but  they  have  since  adopted  in 
a great  measure  the  more  reserved  manners  of  the  ladies 
of  China. 

The  banquet  took  place  in  a large  hall,  where  the 
guests  were  seated  according  to  their  rank.  The  empe- 
ror’s table  stood  on  a dais  at  the  upper  end,  and  the 
ladies  were  ranged  according  to  their  rank  at  tables  by 
themselves.  The  meats  were  served  on  silver,  and  the 
drinking-cups  w'ere  of  gold.  A band  of  music  was  in 
attendance  the  whole  time,  and  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
hall  a temporary  stage  was  erected  for  the  performances 
of  the  players  and  the  feats  of  jugglers  and  tumblers. 
But  it  must  be  observed  that  the  mirth  of  the  guests  was 
never  indulged  to  an  extent  that  might  have  been  deemed 
disrespectful  to  the  emperor.  There  was  no  noisy  laugh- 
ter ; and  whenever  the  imperial  host  raised  the  cup  to 
his  lips,  a signal  was  given  and  all  present  knelt  down 
and  bowed  their  heads  until  he  had  finished  his  draught. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  birth-day  presents  of  great 
value  were  sent  to  the  emperor  from  all  the  provinces ; 
but  as  they  were  too  numerous,  and  some  of  them  too 
bulky,  to  be  laid  at  his  feet,  they  were  merely  passed  in 
review  before  him,  borne  by  a train  of  camels.  This 
was  a very  general  custom  in  the  East ; and  the  presents 
made  to  Eastern  princes  by  their  subjects  must  have 


214 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


very  materially  contributed  toward  keeping  up  the  ex- 
traordinary splendor  for  which  their  courts  were  so 
remarkable. ' 

Marco  Polo  has  left  us  a splendid  description  of  the 
imperial  place  at  Xanadu,  or  Kambalu — 

“ Where  twice  five  miles  of  fertile  ground 
With  walls  and  towers  were  girdled  round.” 

The  picture  is,  indeed,  dazzling  and  marvelous,  yet  it 
does  not  appear  in  any  essential  particular  to  have  ex- 
ceeded the  truth.  Counting  the  enclosing  park  and 
gardens,  the  palace  of  Kublai  Khan  occupied  consider- 
ably more  than  ten  English  miles  of  ground.  The  Eng- 
lish gentlemen  who  attended  Lord  Macartney  on  his 
embassy  to  China  in  1793,  and  those  who  have  visited 
that  capital  within  the  past  few  years,  have  been  aston- 
ished at  the  extent  and  magnificence  of  the  imperial 
palace  at  Peking,  and  their  descriptions  of  it  corre- 
spond with  those  given  by  Marco  Polo  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  They  have  found  the  river,  the  artificial  lakes, 
the  lofty  hills  raised  by  the  hands  of  man,  and  planted 
to  the  top  with  shrubs  and  trees,  surrounding  summer- 
houses and  cabinets  contrived  for  retreat  and  pleasure. 
The  whole,  at  the  first  glance,  has  almost  the  appearance 
of  enchantment.  In  point  of  structure,  materials  and 
style  of  embellishment  there  has  existed  an  exact  re- 
semblance between  the  buildings  of  Kublai  Khan,  as 
described  by  Marco,  and  those  of  the  emperors  of  later 
centuries. 

Since  the  Tartars  had  occupied  the  throne,  hunting 
had  been  the  grand  amusement  of  the  court,  the  sports 
of  the  chase  being  regarded  by  that  people  as  emblemat- 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


215 


ical  of  warfare,  and  the  fearless  hunter  being  respected 
as  a brave  warrior.  The  annual  hunting  expedition 
into  Tartary  was  conducted  with  all  the  solemnity  of  a 
campaign,  the  emperor  taking  the  head  of  a numerous 
train,  which  had  the  appearance  of  a vast  army  march- 
ing to  the  field  of  battle.  The  three  winter  months  were 
entirely  occupied  with  this  pursuit,  which,  during  the 
season,  was  deemed  the  chief  business  of  the  state ; so 
that  the  holding  of  these  hunts  is  among  the  principal 
duties  of  a Tartar  sovereign,  and  he  who  neglects  them 
excites  discontent. 

When  the  sporting  season  was  over,  it  was  customary 
for  the  whole  court  to  repair  to  a city  of  Tartary,  where 
the  emperor  had  a palace,  with  an  extensive  park  and 
pleasure-grounds ; and  to  this  summer  residence  he  was 
accompanied  by  the  empress  and  all  his  other  wives,  for 
he  had  many,  although  only  one  of  them  enjoyed  the 
dignity  and  title  of  empress.  This  favored  lady  was 
surrounded  with  as  much  state  as  her  lordly  husband, 
having  three  hundred  female  slaves  to  attend  upon  and 
amuse  her,  for  which  purpose  many  of  them  had  been 
taught  music  and  dancing,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  East ; and  besides  these  damsels  there  were  elderly 
females,  whose  occupation  it  was  to  relate  entertaining 
stories  to  the  empress  and  ladies  of  the  court,  amongst 
whom  reading  was  then  an  art  comparatively  unknown. 

It  was  by  resorting  to  the  cool,  bracing,  upland  plains, 
or  steppes,  of  Tartary,  and  by  the  exercise  of  hunting 
and  hawking,  that  the  first  princes  of  the  Tartar  line 
escaped  the  enervating  effects  of  the  hot  climate  of 
China  and  the  easy,  luxurious  mode  of  living  in  the 
south.  “It  is  worthy  of  remark,1 ” says  Sir  John  F. 


216 


TIIE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Davis,  “that  of  the  scores  of  dynasties  which  have 
followed  each  other,  all  established  themselves  on  the 
vices,  luxuries  or  indolence  of  their  immediate  forerun- 
ners. The  present  Manchu  race  has  already  shown  no 
unequivocal  symptoms  of  degeneracy.  The  two  greatest 
princes  by  whom  it  has  been  distinguished,  Ivang-hi  and 
Kien-lung,  sedulously  maintained  the  ancient  habits  of 
their  Tartar  subjects  by  frequent  hunting  excursions 
beyond  the  Wall,  in  which  they  individually  bore  no 
small  share  of  the  fatigue  and  danger.  The  em- 
peror Kia-king,  and  his  successors  during  the  present 
century,  have,  on  the  other  hand,  been  remarkable  for 
their  comparative  indolence ; and  their  reigns  have 
exhibited  a mere  succession  of  revolts  and  troubles.” 

Kublai  Khan  lived  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
three,  and  had  ruled  over  the  whole  of  China  about 
eighteen  years  when  he  died,  A.  D.  1294,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  grandson,  Timur. 

The  empire  of  the  Mongols  had  now  attained  its 
utmost  magnitude.  It  extended  from  the  Chinese  sea 
and  the  Indies  to  the  northern  extremit}7  of  Siberia,  and 
from  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia  to  the  frontiers  of 
Poland  in  Europe ; and  all  this  vast  portion  of  the  globe 
was  governed  by  princes  of  the  family  of  Zingis,  who 
were  all  vassals  of  the  Great  Khan,  or  emperor  of 
China.  The  chief  of  these  were  the  khans  of  Persia, 
Zagatai  and  Kipzac,  who  were  tributary  to  Kublai,  but 
after  his  death  they  became  independent  sovereigns. 

The  Chinese  empire  continued  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Mongols  about  seventy-three  years  from  the  death 
of  Kublai,  and  in  that  time  eight  princes  of  his  family 
reigned  in  succession;  not  one  of  whom  equaled  his 


TEE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


217 


great  predecessor  in  ability,  although  most  of  them  were 
mild  and  beneficent  rulers.  Kublai  had,  with  the  wis- 
dom of  a superior  mind,  accommodated  himself  to  the 
habits  and  prejudices  of  the  conquered  nation ; but  his 
successors,  less  politic,  made  innovations  on  the  ancient 
form  of  government,  and  lost  by  degrees  the  confidence 
and  affection  of  the  Chinese,  who  are  extremely  jealous 
of  the  slightest  interference  with  their  established  cus- 
toms, and  whose  dissatisfaction  at  length  began  to  exhibit 
itself  by  frequent  insurrections. 

During  the  whole  of  the  Yuen  (or  Mongol)  dynasty, 
Buddhism  was  the  religion  favored  by  the  state ; and  so 
many  of  the  priests  of  that  sect  came  into  China  that 
the  people  found  them  very  burdensome,  as  they  were  a 
mendicant  race,  who  went  from  house  to  house  asking 
alms.  Many  Buddhist  temples  were  built  in  the  reign 
of  Kublai  Khan,  who  was  himself  a devout  professor 
of  Buddhism — a faith  which  never  possessed  so  much 
influence  in  China  as  during  the  sway  of  the  Mongol 
emperors. 

Shun-tsung,  the  ninth  and  last  sovereign  of  this  race, 
ascended  the  throne  in  1331,  and  reigned  thirty-five 
years,  or  rather  he  suffered  his  ministers  to  reign,  for  he 
himself  was  too  indolent  and  fond  of  pleasure  to  take 
much  share  in  state  affairs.  When  the  Tartars  first 
arrived  from  their  own  wild  deserts,  they  were  a bold, 
energetic  race  of  barbarians;  but  the  ease  and  luxury 
in  which  they  were  enabled  to  indulge  in  the  genial 
climate  of  China  had  softened  their  manners,  and  had 
thus  destroyed  the  warlike  character  by  which  their 
ancestors  *had  gained  possession  of  the  country,  and  by 
which  alone  they  could  hope  to  retain  it.  Shun-tsung 


218 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EXPIRE. 


neglected  tlie  annual  hunts  and  the  practice  of  every 
manly  exercise  and  every  manly  virtue.  He  was  stained 
with  all  the  vices  which  usually  adhere  to  the  represen- 
tative of  a worn-out,  decaying  dynasty : he  was  volup- 
tuous, effeminate,  indolent  to  excess,  a coward,  and  yet  a 
sanguinary  tyrant.  After  several  insurrections  against 
him  had  failed,  a revolution  was  commenced,  which  was 
attended  with  full  success,  and  which  placed  the  empire 
of  China  once  more  under  the  dominion  of  native 
princes. 

There  was  a poor  laborer  in  the  province  of  Nanking 
who  had  a son  named  Chu,  a lad  whose  constitution  was 
so  delicate  that  he  was  quite  unfit  for  hard  work ; his 
father  therefore  placed  him  in  one  of  the  monasteries,  to 
be  brought  up  by  the  priests,  with  a view  to  his  becom- 
ing a member  of  that  order.  The  boy,  however,  had  no 
taste  for  so  inactive  a life,  and  growing  stronger  as  his 
years  increased,  he  enlisted  as  a common  soldier  in  the 
imperial  army,  in  which  capacity  he  distinguished  him- 
self so  highly  on  two  or  three  different  occasions  that  he 
was  promoted,  step  by  step,  till  he  had  attained  to  a high 
rank,  when  he  married  a widow  of  fortune  and  influence, 
whose  family  was  among  those  who  were  disaffected  to- 
ward the  Tartar  government.  Chu  soon  imbibed  similar 
principles,  and  took  the  lead  in  a formidable  insurrection 
that  broke  out  in  the  province  in  which  the  old  capital, 
Nanking,  is  situated.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  this 
famous  general  was  at  the  head  of  the  insurgents,  the 
whole  province  was  speedily  in  arms,  the  capital  having 
already  declared  for  the  rebel  chief,  who  met  and  de- 
feated the  imperial  forces.  The  numbers  of  the  rebel 
army  increased  daily ; the  most  considerable  cities 


THE  MONGOL  DYNASTY. 


219 


opened  their  gates  to  them,  and  at  length  Peking  itself 
was  taken,  and  Shun-ti  with  his  family  fled  into  Tartary, 
leaving  his  capital  in  the  undisputed  possession  of  the 
victor,  who  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  title  of 
Tai-tsu  in  the  year  1366.  This  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Ming  dynasty,  which  was  displaced  nearly 
three  hundred  years  afterward  by  the  present  reigning 
family. 

China  had  reached  a very  high  point  of  grandeur, 
order  and  civilization  under  Kublai  Khan  at  the  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  There  has  been  no  remarkable 
progress  since  that  period,  until  the  recent  wars  with 
foreign  nations  instituted  a new  order  of  things ; in 
general,  there  has  been  an  evident  deterioration,  decline 
and  decay.  The  pictures  of  Marco  Polo,  collectively, 
do  certainly  present  a vast,  most  populous,  prosperous 
and  well-governed  nation,  highly  refined  and  civilized 
as  compared  with  the  very  best  countries  in  Europe  at 
that  period,  and  far  exceeding  them  all  in  extent,  unity 
and  consolidation.  We  'have  insisted  on  the  authority 
of  Marco  Polo,  and  not  without  reason.  So  high  did  he 
rise  in  the  estimation  and  favor  of  the  liberal-minded 
Kublai — who,  unlike  most  of  the  sovereigns  who  pre- 
ceded and  followed  him  on  the  throne  of  China,  readily 
employed  Arabians,  Persians  and  other  foreigners — that 
when  a member  of  one  of  the  high  tribunals  was  un- 
able to  proceed  to  the  government  of  a city  to  which  he 
had  been  nominated,  the  emperor  sent  the  young  Ve- 
netian in  his  stead.  Marco  mentions  this  honorable 
event  of  his  life  in  the  most  modest  manner,  and  only 
incidentally  while  describing  the  city,  which  was  Yang- 
chau-fu,  in  the  province  of  Kiang-nan,  a place  then  of 


220 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


great  importance,  and  celebrated  for  its  manufacture  of 
arms  and  all  kinds  of  military  accoutrements. 

In  another  chapter  the  Venetian  says,  “Marco,  on  his 
part,  perceiving  that  the  Grand  Khan  took  a pleasure  in 
hearing  accounts  of  whatever  was  new  to  him  respecting 
the  customs  and  manners  of  people,  and  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  distant  countries,  endeavored,  where- 
ever  he  went,  to  obtain  correct  information  on  these  sub- 
jects, and  made  notes  of  all  he  saw  and  heard,  in  order 
to  gratify  the  curiosity  of  his  master.  In  short,  during 
seventeen  years  that  he  continued  in  his  service,  he  ren- 
dered himself  so  useful  that  he  was  employed  in  con- 
fidential missions  to  every  part  of  the  empire  and  its  de- 
pendencies ; and  sometimes  also  he  traveled  on  his  own 
private  account,  but  always  with  the  consent  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  authority  of  the  Great  Khan.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  was  that  Marco  Polo  had  the  op- 
portunity of  acquiring  a knowledge,  either  by  his  own 
observation  or  by  what  he  collected  from  others,  of  so 
many  things,  until  his  time  unknown,  respecting  the 
eastern  parts  of  the  world,  and  which  he  diligently  and 
regularly  committed  to  writing,  as  in  the  sequel  will . 
appear.” 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY — THE  MING. 

S soon  as  Tai-tsu  was  firmly  seated  on  the  tlirone, 


ambassadors  were  sent  by  the  kings  of  Corea  and 
other  tributary  princes  to  congratulate  him  on  his  ele- 
vation, and  express  their  satisfaction  that  the  country 
was  once  more  under  the  dominion  of  a native  ruler. 
The  success  of  Tai-tsu  and  his  excellent  government  are 
attributed  in  great  measure  to  the  prudent  counsels  of 
his  wife.  The  new  emperor  chose  Nanking  for  his  cap- 
ital, and  erected  Peking  into  a principality,  which  he 
bestowed  on  one  of  his  sons,  Yung-lo,  who,  when  he 
became  emperor,  again  removed  the  court  from  Nan- 
king to  Peking,  the  latter  city  being  better  situated  for 
keeping  in  check  the  Tartars,  who  were  constantly  at 
war  with  the  Chinese  after  the  fall  of  the  Mongol  dy- 
nasty. Tai-tsu  began  his  reign  by  restoring  those  insti- 
tutions which  had  been  disregarded  since  the  time  of 
Kublai  Khan,  whose  successors  had  broken  in  upon  one 
of  the  most  important  usages  of  the  Chinese  government, 
by  placing  military  men  in  all  the  chief  offices  of  state, 
which  under  Kublai  had  been  filled  by  the  learned. 
This  was  one  of  the  innovations  which  had  led  to  the  revo- 
lution, and  was  among  the  first  grievances  redressed  by 
the  new  emperor,  who  restored  the  literary  mandarins  to 


221 


222 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


their  former  rank  and  influence,  and  granted  great  privi- 
leges to  the  Han-lin  College.  He  made  several  new  regu- 
lations intended  to  promote  the  happiness  of  the  people, 
and,  among  others,  that  women  should  not  devote  them- 
selves as  priestesses  to  the  religion  of  Buddha,  and  that 
no  man  should  enter  a monastery  till  he  was  forty  years 
of  age ; for  Tai-tsu  knew  by  experience  that  young  peo- 
ple sometimes  were  induced  to  adopt  this  life  of  seclusion 
before  they  were  old  enough  to  judge  whether  it  was 
exactly  suited  to  their  dispositions,  and  were  thereby 
doomed  to  many  years  of  misery  and  regret. 

Tai-tsu  reigned  thirty-one  years,  and,  having  lost  his 
favorite  son,  appointed  his  grandson,  a boy  of  thirteen, 
under  the  imperial  name  of  Kien-wan,  to  succeed  him, 
which  gave  great  offence  to  one  of  his  sons,  Yung-lo, 
who  raised  an  army  at  Peking,  and  placing  himself  at 
its  head,  marched  toward  Nanking  to  demand  from  his 
nephew  the  surrender  of  the  throne.  He  was  opposed 
by  the  imperial  troops,  and  a battle  ensued,  in  which 
many  were  killed  on  both  sides,  but  the  cause  was  still 
undecided  when  the  gates  of  the  city  were  opened  by  a 
traitor.  The  assailants  instantly  rushed  into  the  town, 
put  many  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword  and  set  the 
palace  on  fire.  The  youthful  emperor  perished  in  the 
flames,  and  Yung-lo  took  possession  of  the  vacant  throne. 
Some  of  the  ministers  were  condemned  to  death,  others 
killed  themselves,  while  many  of  the  mandarins,  who 
expected  to  be  punished  for  their  adherence  to  the  cause 
of  the  late  unfortunate  prince,  shaved  their  heads  and 
assumed  the  sackcloth  habit  of  the  bonzes,  and,  thus  dis- 
guised, were  not  recognized. 

Although  the  new  emperor  had  obtained  the  throne 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


223 


by  cruelty  and  violence,  he  was  not  a bad  sovereign,  but 
on  the  contrary  exhibited  great  moderation  and  justice 
in  many  acts  of  his  government.  He  removed  the  court 
to  Peking,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  which  has  been 
the  imperial  residence  ever  since;  but  he  established 
separate  tribunals  at  Nanking,  which  city  was  occupied 
and  governed  by  his  eldest  son. 

It  was  in  this  reign  that  the  great  Tartar  chief 
Timour,  or  Tamerlane,  as  he  is  more  generally  called, 
whose  conquests  almost  equaled  those  of  Zingis  Khan, 
being  ambitious  of  adding  China  to  the  vast  dominions 
he  had  already  acquired  by  a long  and  successful  course 
of  warfare,  set  out  with  the  intention  of  invading  that 
empire ; but,  happily  for  the  Chinese,  he  died  on  the 
way  (A.D.  1405),  and  the  expedition  was  abandoned. 
From  time  to  time,  however,  the  Tartars  renewed  their 
invasions  in  the  hope  of  recovering  the  empire,  and 
were  a terrible  scourge  to  those  provinces  which  bor- 
dered on  Tartary.  When  there  happened  to  be  a power- 
ful prince  at  the  head  of  the  state,  they  were  kept  in 
check,  but  whenever  the  government  was  weak,  they 
did  not  fail  to  turn  that  advantage  to  account ; so  that 
the  Chinese  were  never  entirely  at  peace  during  the 
whole  period  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  which  lasted  three 
centuries. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  this  race  that  the  rapid  pro- 
gress of  navigation  which  followed  the  discovery  of 
America  first  brought  the  ships  of  Europe  to  the  shores 
of  China.1  The  Portuguese,  who  were  the  great  naviga- 

1 Those  who  love  to  trace  the  simultaneous  tread  of  the  great  events  which 
mark  the  eras  of  the  advance  of  our  race  will  observe  that  this  new  link  was 
formed  between  the  most  distant  West  and  the  most  distant  East,  between  the 
most  immobile  and  the  most  progressive  parts  of  the  world,  at  the  hour  when 


224 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tors  of  the  age,  having  made  several  voyages  to  India  by 
the^ewly-discovered  passage  round  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  ventured  still  farther  eastward  in  the  year  1516, 
and  were  the  first  Europeans  who  reached  the  Canton 
river.  Their  vessels,  despatched  by  Alfonso  Albuquer- 
que, the  captain-general  of  Malacca,  were  under  the  com- 
mand of  a bold  and  adventurous  Portuguese  named 
Perestrello,  who,  however,  did  not  pass  the  islands  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river.  His  name  will  be  memorable 
as  that  of  the  first  person  who  ever  conducted  a ship  to 
China  under  a European  flag.  On  his  return  to  Malacca, 
Perestrello  reported  favorably  of  the  country  and  its 
commerce.  The  very  next  year  he  was  followed  by  a 
squadron  of  eight  vessels,  under  the  command  of  Perez 
de  Andrade,  who  passed  the  islands  and  sailed  up  the 
river.  Some  alarm  was  experienced  at  Canton  on  the 
appearance  of  strange  vessels,  of  a form  altogether  new 
to  the  Chinese,  who  very  naturally  supposed  an  invasion 
was  intended ; consequently,  the  squadron  was  presently 
surrounded  by  war-junks,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
Perez  de  Andrade  obtained  permission  to  proceed  up  the 
river  to  Canton  with  two  of  his  ships.  The  viceroy 
granted  an  audience ; but  while  successfully  negotiating 
for  a trade,  the  Portuguese  captain  received  accounts 
that  the  rest  of  his  squadron,  left  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  had  been  attacked  by  pirates.  Some  of  his  vessels 
returned  with  cargoes  to  Malacca ; the  remainder  sailed, 
in  company  with  some  junks  belonging  to  the  Loo-Choo 
islands,  for  the  east  coast  of  China,  and  succeeded  in 


Martin  Luther  was  preparing  the  ninety-five  theses,  the  nailing  of  which  on  the 
door  of  the  cathedral  at  Wittemberg  waked  up  the  slumbering  conscience  of 
Europe,  and  was  one  of  the  first  public  acts  of  the  Great  Keformation. 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


225 


establishing  a colony  at  Ningpo.  Shortly  after  this  the 
Portuguese  brought  their  families  to  that  port,  and  estab- 
lished a profitable  trade,  not  only  with  various  parts  of 
the  Chinese  coasts,  but  also  with  the  islands  which  com- 
pose the  empire  of  Japan — an  empire  then  abounding 
with  the  precious  metals  and  other  valuable  productions. 
But  in  the  course  of  a few  years  the  provincial  govern- 
ment, provoked  by  their  rapacity,  piracy  and  general 
ill-conduct,  expelled  them  from  Ningpo ; and  thus  the 
Portuguese  for  ever  lost  an  establishment  on  the  conti- 
nent of  China  in  one  of  the  provinces  of  the  empire  best 
adapted  to  the  ends  of  European  trade.  It  must  hon- 
estly be  admitted  that  the  conduct  of  their  first  visitors 
from  the  West  was  not  calculated  to  give  the  Chinese  a 
favorable  opinion  of  Europeans,  and  that  these  Portu- 
guese, with  the  subjects  of  some  other  nations  of  the 
West,  who  very  soon  followed  them,  were  little  better 
than  buccaneers. 

ft 

As  the  hostility  of  the  Chinese  to  foreign  intercourse 
is  a favorite  subject  of  reproach  against  them  in  the 
writings  of  men  of  our  kith  and  creed,  we  may  perhaps 
obtain  some  useful  light  as  to  the  grounds  of  it  by  look- 
ing into  its  records.  The  truth  is,  that  the  specimens 
of  Christian  civilization  who  first  went  to  that  coast — 
and,  it  must  be  added,  some  of  later  days — have  been 
scoundrels  with  whom  the  common  knaves  of  Christen- 
dom would  shrink  from  associating.  Among  the  early 
desperate  adventurers  from  Portugal  was  Ferdinand 
Mendez  Pinto,  who  has  been  made  memorable  by  the  ill 
names  bestowed  upon  him  by  Cervantes  and  the  dramatist 
Congreve,  but  the  bulk  of  whose  descriptions  and  ad- 
ventures were  indisputably  true.  Having  been  plundered 

15 


226 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


by  native  pirates,  he  and  his  comrades  turned  pirates 
themselves.  These  freebooters  finally  reached  Ningpo, 
which  was  as  yet  in  the  hands  of  their  countrymen,  and 
which  Mendez  Pinto  describes  as  a strongly-fortified 
settlement.  They  were  received  with  “great  affection 
and  Christian  charity prayers  were  put  up  for  them 
in  the  church ; they  were  visited  and  feasted  by  the 
richest  and  noblest  of  the  settlers,  who  assured  them 
that  the  Chinese  empire  was  in  so  unsettled  a state  that 
they  might  plunder  and  burn  even  the  great  city  of 
Canton  without  danger  or  difficulty.  Thirteen  different 
princes  were  contending  for  the  imperial  crown,  war  was 
waging  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  and  the  Manchu  Tar- 
tars were  coming.  Before  quitting  Ningpo,  Mendez 
Pinto’s  commodore,  Antonio  de  Faria,  furnished  himself 
with  a Portuguese  priest  or  friar  for  each  of  his  ships, 
in  order  that  mass  might  be  regularly  performed  at  sea. 
The  very  devout  Portuguese  settled  at  Ningpo  had 
learned  from  some  Chinese  that  to  the  north-east  there 
was  an  island  containing  the  tombs  of  seventeen  Chinese 
kings,  all  made  of  gold  and  surrounded  by  many  idols 
cast  in  the  same  precious  metal.  For  a long  time  this 
island  seemed  to  evade  the  search  of  the  Portuguese 
captain.  At  last,  when  his  crew  was  in  despair  and 
mutinous,  he  hit  upon  the  island  and  upon  some  of  the 
royal  tombs.  But,  alas ! the  gold  turned  out  to  be  only 
burnished  brass  or  gilded  copper.  The  marauders,  how- 
ever, burst  open  the  graves,  and  there,  among  the  dry 
bones  of  the  dead,  they  found  a great  quantity  of  silver. 
A tempest  followed  them,  as  if  in  vengeance,  and  they 
were  all  shipwrecked  in  the  bay  of  Nanking.  Of  the 
total  number,  only  fourteen  saved  their  lives  by  swim- 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


227 


ming.  The  people  on  the  solitary  coast  were  kind  and 
hospitable,  giving  them  rice  to  eat,  and  pointing  out  the 
way  to  a pagoda  and  hospital  where  pilgrims  could 
always  find  food  and  lodging.  When  questioned  by  the 
bonzes  or  priests  at  the  hospitium  who  they  were  and 
whence  they  came,  the  Portuguese  said  that  they  were 
natives  of  the  kingdom  of  Siam,  poor  honest  fishermen, 
who  had  been  cast  away ; and  hereupon  they  met  with  a 
most  humane  reception.  When  these  bonzes,  who  were 
very  poor,  had  entertained  them  two  or  three  days, 
they  sent  them  on  to  another  hospitium,  three  leagues 
off,  which  was  very  rich.  These  places  of  refuge  for 
pilgrims  and  for  the  poor  of  all  classes  were  then  very 
numerous  in  China,  and  they  had  been  faithfully 
described  by  Marco  Polo.  Two  months  the  shipwrecked 
pirates  wandered  through  that  immense  province,  beg- 
ging in  the  villages  and  avoiding  as  much  as  possible 
the  great  towns,  for  fear  of  being  detected  as  Portuguese 
mariners.  At  last,  in  an  evil  hour,  they  entered  the 
town  of  Taypor.  There  they  were  seen,  as  they  were 
begging  from  door  to  door,  by  a sharp  magistrate,  who 
caused  them  to  be  arrested,  loaded  with  chains  and  iron 
collars,  and  cast  into  a frightful  prison,  where  one  of 
them  died.  At  the  end  of  twenty-six  days  they  were 
embarked  on  a canal  for  the  city  of  Nanking,  together 
with  twenty  or  thirty  Chinese  criminals  and  cut-throats. 
Almost  as  soon  as  they  arrived  at  Nanking,  which  Ferdi- 
nand Mendez  correctly  describes  as  an  immense  and  popu- 
lous city,  the  second  in  rank  in  the  empire,  they  were  ex- 
amined by  a very  rigorous  mandarin,  who  ordered  them 
a terrible  flogging  on  the  bare  back,  which  caused  the 
death  of  two  of  them.  Two  more  had  been  previously 


228 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


drowned  in  crossing  an  inlet  of  the  sea.  Some  charitable 
Buddhist  priests  attended  the  nine  survivors,  healed 
their  wounds,  and  then  procured  that  they  should  be 
sent  on  to  the  grand  imperial  court  of  appeal  at  Peking. 
The  unhappy  Portuguese  ascended  the  grand  canals, 
which  struck  them  with  astonishment.  They  were  also 
charmed  with  the  number  of  the  bridges  and  the  mag- 
nificence of  the  pagodas,  tombs,  fountains  and  arches  of 
triumph.  Ferdinand  had  also  occasion  to  admire  the 
tranquil  manners  of  the  Chinese  and  the  good  order  and 
industry  that  prevailed  among  them.  Shortly  after  their 
arrival  at  Peking  they  were  acquitted,  or  rather  par- 
doned, by  the  supreme  court,  and  liberated  with  a free 
permission  to  go  again  a-begging.  For  two  months  and 
a half  they  enjoyed  this  liberty  in  Peking,  and  among 
that  countless  population  they  found  many  charitable 
people.  They  were  then  sent  to  the  city  of  Kin-sai, 
where  they  were  taken  into  the  service  of  the  governor 
as  part  of  his  body-guard.  They  were  kindly  and  even 
liberally  treated,  until  (strange  illustration  of  the  kind 
of  honor  that  often  exists  in  the  bosom  of  thieves !)  there 
happened  a quarrel  among  themselves  about  a question 
of  precedence,  genealogy  and  nobility,  and  a commotion 
and  a scuffle,  accompanied  with  bloodshed,  which  the 
Chinese  laws  have  at  all  times  held  in  great  abhorrence. 
They  were  again  well  flogged  or  beaten  with  bamboos 
and  thrown  into  prison,  a method  of  settling  such  nice 
points  in  which  the  Chinese  certainly  set  the  nations  of 
the  West  a good  lesson.  After  eight  more  weeks  of 
captivity  the  governor  took  pity  on  them,  and  they  were 
released,  though  only  to  be  slaves  in  perpetuity,  and 
under  the  doom  that  if  they  ever  again  quarreled  and 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


229 


fought  among  themselves,  whether  about  the  antiquity 
of  their  families  or  aught  else,  they  would  all  be  instantly 
scourged  to  death.  Although  their  taskmasters  made 
them  work  very  hard,  they  were  still  obliged  to  beg 
from  door  to  door  for  their  daily  bread  or  rice.  Luckily 
one  of  them,  Gaspar  de  Moreyles  by  name,  was  a very 
good  musician,  “playing  the  guitar  and  singing  to  it  with 
a voice  which  was  not  a bad  one ; and  this  music  was 
very  agreeable  to  the  richer  sort  of  Chinamen,  who  pass 
their  lives  in  banquets  and  the  delights  of  the  flesh,  and 
so  they  called  Gaspar  in  very  frequently  for  their  pas- 
time, and  never  sent  him  away  empty-handed.”  The 
minstrel  generously  shared  the  proceeds  with  his  com- 
rades. They  were  released  from  their  present  thraldom 
by  the  Manchu  Tartars,  who  captured  Kin-sai,  carried 
them  away  with  them,  and  very  soon  gave  them  good 
military  employment,  finding  that  they  were  brave  and 
well  skilled  in  the  art  of  war.  Beyond  this  point  the 
adventures  of  Ferdinand  Mendez  Pinto  are  but  little 
connected  with  China.1 

The  first  Portuguese  embassy  to  Peking  took  place  as 
early  as  the  year  1520.  It  was  headed  by  one  Perez, 
who  found  the  imperial  court  in  a fury  at  the  depreda- 
tions committed  at  sea  by  his  countrymen.  He  was  sent 
back  under  custody  to  Canton,  the  provincial  govern- 
ment of  which  place  was  no  doubt  instructed  to  arrest 
further  attempts  on  the  part  of  strangers  to  communicate 
wTith  the  court.  At  Canton,  Perez  was  robbed  of  his  prop- 
erty, thrown  into  prison,  and  ultimately,  it  is  supposed, 
put  to  death.  “ The.  various  embassies,”  adds  Sir  J.  F. 
Davis,  “ which  followed  in  three  successive  centuries  to 

1 C.  Macfaklane,  Romance  of  Travel,  vol.  ii.  chap.  5. 


230 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Peking,  met  with  different  kinds  of  treatment ; but,  in 
whatever  spirit  conducted,  they  were  (previous  to  the 
Opium  War)  equally  unsuccessful  in  the  attainment  of 
any  important  points  of  negotiation.” 

The  year  after  that  in  which  Perez  started  on  his 
mission,  his  countryman,  Alfonso  de  Melo,  with  six 
vessels,  and  in  ignoranfce  of  what  had  taken  place, 
arrived  in  China.  He  became  immediately  involved 
in  fierce  conflicts  with  the  indignant  Chinese,  who  put 
to  death  more  than  twenty  Portuguese  prisoners  who 
fell  into  their  hands,  and  forced  Melo’s  squadron  to 
retire. 

About  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Por- 
tuguese, however,  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves 
at  Macao,  on  a small  peninsula  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Canton  river ; the  only  European  colony — and  it  with 
very  limited  success — that  was  planted  on  the  coast  of 
China  until  our  own  days  and  the  recent  war  with  the 
Celestial  Empire.  It  seems  that  the  Portuguese  had  a 
temporary  refuge  on  shore  as  early  as  1537,  being 
allowed  to  erect  sheds  for  drying  goods,  which  were 
introduced  under  the  name  of  tribute.  By  degrees  the 
foreigners  were  permitted  to  build  some  warehouses,  for 
which  privilege  they  paid  an  annual  tribute  and  rent. 
They  erected  there,  by  degrees,  a number  of  good 
houses,  and  the  merchants  who  went  to  reside  took  with 
them  their  wives  and  families,  which  was  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  the  empire,  but  connived  at  by  the  mandarins, 
who  probably  derived  some  advantage  from  granting 
this  indulgence.  Macao  was  honored  by  being  the  place 
of  banishment  of  the  great  Portuguese  poet  Camoens, 
parts  of  whose  beautiful  poem  of  the  “ Lusiad  ” are  said 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


231 


to  have  been  here  written  in  a grotto  which  still  bears 
his  name. 

The  new  Portuguese  town  of  Macao  being  situated  at 
the  extremity  of  a small  peninsula,  joined  by  a narrow 
isthmus  to  the  island  of  Heang-shan,  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment caused  a wall  to  be  built  across  the  slip  of  land 
as  a barrier ; for  although  the  Chinese  were  not  insensi- 
ble to  the  advantages  of  foreign  commerce,  they  adhered 
to  their  system  of  exclusion,  and  while  they  strictly  pro- 
hibited the  strangers  from  entering  their  cities,  or  even 
passing  the  bounds  of  their  own  settlement,  they  jeal- 
ously watched  all  their  proceedings.  An  officer  was 
appointed  at  Macao,  who  governed  the  town  in  the 
name  of  the  emperor,  and  whose  duty  it  was  to  give 
information  to  his  superiors  of  the  conduct  of  the 
inhabitants. 

The  attempts  of  the  Roman  Church  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries  had  left  little  discernible  fruit. 
John  III.,  the  enterprising  king  of  Portugal,  deter- 
mined to  send  the  Christian  religion  to  the  heathen 
lands  which  God  had  opened  to  his  commerce.  The  de- 
voted Francis  Xavier  was  the  first  missionary  who  went 
forth  under  his  care.  He  embarked  at  Lisbon,  April  8, 
1541,  arrived  at  Goa  in  India  the  following  year,  labored 
there  and  in  the  neighboring  countries  for  six  years,  and 
then  determined  to  carry  the  gospel  to  Japan  and  China. 
After  great  success  in  Japan,  he  died  upon  the  threshold 
of  his  work  in  China,  December  2,  1552.  His  remains 
were  carried  to  Goa  for  interment,  but  the  little  island 
of  Shang-chuen,  on  which  he  died,  is  a place  of  resort 
for  pilgrims  till  the  present  day. 

Not  long  after  the  Portuguese  had  opened  a trade 


232 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


with  China,  the  Spaniards,  rivaling  their  example,  began 
to  send  out  ships  to  the  Indian  ocean,  and  in  the  reign 
of  Philip  II.  established  a colony  at  Manila  (A.  D. 
1543),  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  where  they  entered 
into  commercial  dealings  with  the  Chinese  merchants, 
who  carried  silks  and  porcelain  thither  for  sale.  But, 
although  they  still  possess  the  privilege  of  trading  at 
Canton,  as  well  as  at  Macao  and  at  Amoy,  the  Spaniards 
have  derived  less  advantage  from  an  intercourse  with  the 
“Middle  Kingdom”  than  most  other  nations,  notwith- 
standing the  vast  advantage  they  have  in  the  locality  of 
Manila,  which  is  within  a few  days’  sale  of  China,  and 
approached  with  equal  facility  in  either  monsoon.  But 
if  these  ultra- devout  people  did  not  grasp  the  commer- 
cial advantages  within  their  reach,  they  paid  every 
attention  to  the  propagation  of  their  faith.  Manila,  in 
a little  time,  was  well  stocked  with  churches  and  relig- 
ious houses,  and  with  monks ; and  of  these  last  two  were 
sent  over  to  convert  the  Chinese  about  the  year  1570. 

The  appearance  of  foreigners  in  a Chinese  city  was  so 
rare  a sight  that  the  house  in  which  the  monks  lodged 
was  constantly  surrounded  by  the  populace,  who  mounted 
the  walls  and  the  housetops  to  obtain  a glimpse  of  the 
men  from  an  unknown  land.  When  they  went  out 
sedan-chairs  were  provided  for  their  accommodation, 
but  they  could  scarcely  make  their  way  along  the  streets 
in  consequence  of  the  crowds  that  were  assembled  to  see 
them.  They  found  the  country  through  which  they 
traveled  extremely  fertile  and  well  cultivated,  and  the 
people,  who  were  then  generally  employed  in  harrowing 
and  seed-sowing,  appeared  to  be  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances ; but  the  strangers  were  so  closely  watched  that 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


233 


tliey  had  little  opportunity  of  gaining  much  information 
respecting  the  real  condition  of  the  natives  or  of  visit- 
ing the  interior  of  their  abodes. 

At  length  the  Spaniards  were  politely  but  decidedly 
informed  that  their  visit  had  been  sufficiently  prolonged ; 
and  without  having  received  a direct  reply  with  regard 
to  the  object  of  their  mission,  they  were  escorted  to 
Canton,  where  a bark  was  in  readiness  to  convey 
them  back  to  Manila;  and  thus  ended  their  hopes  of 
propagating  Christianity  among  the  Chinese.  Other 
attempts  were  made  with  as  little  success  until  the  fol- 
lowing century,  when  the  Jesuits,  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans  undertook  missions  to  China.  As  they 
were  in  general  more  politic  men  than  monks  of  other 
orders,  and  in  the  habit  of  mixing  more  with  the  world, 
they  succeeded  better  than  those  who  had  gone  before 
them.  They  commenced  the  great  work  they  had  in 
view  in  a very  cautious  manner,  giving  out  that  they 
were  holy  men  from  the  West,  who,  having  heard  of  the 
wonders  of  the  Celestial  Empire,  had  come  to  finish  their 
days  in  that  celebrated  land ; and  one  of  them  gained 
the  reputation  of  being  a great  astrologer  by  construct- 
ing a sun-dial  and  an  armillary  sphere,  which  excited 
much  admiration. 

Having  conciliated  the  good-will  of  the  natives,  they 
were  permitted  to  remain,  and  when  they  had  gained 
sufficient  influence  to  make  the  attempt,  they  obtained 
leave  to  build  a Christian  church,  and  succeeded  in 
making  many  converts. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Wan-lieh,  the 
thirteenth  emperor  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  ascended  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors  in  the  year  1571.  Wan-lieh 


234 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


is  highly  spoken  of  in  Chinese  history  as  being  just, 
wise  and  benevolent,  and  altogether  as  a prince  of  an 
excellent  disposition.  He  caused  to  be  published  every 
three  months,  for  the  convenience  of  the  public,  a book 
containing  the  name,  rank  and  native  city  of  every 
officer  of  the  empire — a custom  which  has  been  con- 
tinued ever  since.  It  is  called  the  Red  Book,  from  the 
color ; red  being  much  used  in  connection  with  the  cere- 
monial matters  of  both  religion  and  the  state : it  may  be 
mentioned,  for  instance,  that  there  are  before  the  portals 
of  every  official  mansion  two  high  poles  which  are 
uniformly  painted  red.  There  are  nine  degrees  of  rank 
among  the  officers  of  government,  and  alterations  are 
continually  made  in  their  body  by  the  advancement  of 
some,  and  by  the  appointment  of  new  magistrates  to  the 
offices  of  each  province,  and  the  admission  of  fresh  can- 
didates after  every  examination.  The  nobility  is  there- 
fore, in  fact,  a constantly  fluctuating  body,  and  the  Red 
Book  is  a court  calendar  corrected  regularly  according 
to  the  changes  that  have  occurred. 

The  long  reign  of  Wan-lieh  was  disturbed  from  its 
commencement  by  the  irruptions  of  the  Manchus,  whose 
power  was  fast  increasing,  while  that  of  the  Ming 
princes  was  as  rapidly  declining;  and  at  length  the 
Manchu  prince  Tien-ming,  provoked  by  the  oppressive 
conduct  of  some  Chinese  officers  on  the  frontiers,  form- 
ally declared  war  against  the  empire,  and  published  a 
manifesto  stating  his  reasons  for  so  doing. 

Just  at  this  juncture  Wan-lieh  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  grandson,  Hi-tsung,  who  reigned  only 
seven  years,  during  which  the  war  was  continued  with 
varied  success,  and  it  was  still  undecided  when  the  last  of 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING.  235 


the  Chinese  sovereigns,  Hwai-tsung,  ascended  the  throne 
in  the  year  1627. 

The  late  emperor,  Hi-tsung,  and  the  Tartar  king, 
Tien-ming,  died  within  a few  months  of  each  other,  the 
latter  being  succeeded  by  his  son  Tien-tsung,  who  prose- 
cuted the  war  against  Hwai-tsung  with  a view  to  the 
conquest  of  the  empire.  The  whole  country  was  now 
in  a most  dreadful  state  of  anarchy,  for  the  regular 
troops  being  all  engaged  in  the  contest  with  the  Tartars, 
there  were  none  to  stop  the  progress  of  rebellion,  which 
began  to  show  itself  in  all  the  provinces.  Several 
daring  chiefs  raised  revolts,  and  collected  large  armed 
bands,  with  which  they  ravaged  the  country  and  plun- 
dered the  cities  with  impunity ; nor  had  the  magistrates 
any  power  to  prevent  such  outrages  by  enforcing  the 
laws,  -which  they  could  only  do  by  military  aid. 

The  way  was  prepared  for  the  revolution  which 
placed  on  the  throne  the  Manchu  Tartars,  who  have 
held  it  until  the  present  time.  We  will  dwell  a little 
in  our  history  upon  the  events  which  lifted  to  a position 
of  so  vast  power  a race  which  has  given  to  China  some 
of  the  ablest  of  its  long  line  of  rulers,  and  one  which  at 
present  seems  to  be  the  appointed  agency  of  Providence 
to  introduce  the  civilization  of  the  West,  and  with  it  the 
knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

The  boldest  of  the  insurgent  leaders,  whose  name  was 
Li-kung,  even  aspired  to  the  imperial  dignity,  and 
having  raised  an  immense  army,  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  provinces  of  Ho-nan  and  Shen-si,  where 
he  secured  his  authority  by  putting  to  death  the  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  cities,  and  freeing  the  people 
from  all  taxes  and  contributions.  The  support  of  the 


236 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


commonalty  being  thus  gained,  he  marched  toward 
Peking,  the  capital,  sending  several  of  his  party  before 
him  disguised  as  merchants,  who  went  into  the  city, 
where  they  hired  shops  and  carried  on  trade  till  an 
opportunity  offered  for  executing  their  project,  which 
was  to  gain  over  some  of  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  and 
by  their  assistance  to  open  the  gates  to  the  rebel  army. 
All  happened  according  to  their  wishes ; and  the  night 
on  which  the  treacherous  soldiers  were  to  keep  guard 
was  fixed  for  the  entrance  of  Li-kung  and  his  troops, 
who  on  the  gates  being  opened  rushed  into  the  town 
and  commenced  a furious  attack  on  the  palace.  The 
officers  fled  in  dismay ; the  guards  of  the  palace  went 
over  to  the  enemy ; when  the  unfortunate  emperor, 
seeing  no  other  means  of  escaping  from  the  foe,  stabbed 
his  daughter  with  his  own  hand,  and  then  put  an  end  to 
his  own  existence.  The  young  lady  was  carried  off  by 
a faithful  slave,  and  having  survived  the  effects  of  the 
blow,  was  afterward  married  to  a Chinese  grandee ; but 
the  empress  and  many  ladies  of  the  court,  dreading 
nothing  so  much  as  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels, 
killed  themselves  in  despair. 

The  triumphant  chief  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
emperor,  and  taking  possession  of  the  palace,  proceeded 
to  exercise  the  sovereign  authority,  to  which  the  people 
of  Peking  and  the  northern  provinces  universally  sub- 
mitted; but  one  of  the  loyal  generals,  Wu  San-kwei, 
who  still  had  an  army  under  his  command,  held  out 
with  determined  bravery,  and  fortified  himself  in  a city 
on  the  confines  of  Tartary,  which  was  speedily  besieged 
by  the  usurper,  whose  cruelties  had  already  made  him 
hateful  to  all  except  his  own  soldiers.  Enraged  at  the 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING . 


237 


opposition  of  Wu  San-kwei,  the  tyrant  caused  the  aged 
father  of  that  general  to  be  brought,  loaded  with  chains, 
under  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  sent  word  to  the  general 
that  if  he  did  not  surrender  the  old  man  would  be  in- 
stantly put  to  death ; on  which  the  unhappy  son  ap- 
peared on  the  wall,  and  on  his  knees,  while  the  tears 
streamed  down  his  face,  received  the  commands  of  his 
venerable  parent  never  to  acknowledge  the  base  usurper 
as  his  sovereign.  Scarcely  had  the  father  uttered  the 
words,  when  his  head  was  severed  from  his  body : a sad 
sight  for  the  eyes  of  a son,  whose  filial  affection  was  of 
that  deep  character  so  frequently  met  with  among  the 
Chinese. 

Wu  San-kwei  had  now  a double  cause  for  vengeance — 
the  death  of  his  prince  and  the  murder  of  his  father. 
He  therefore  made  terms  with  the  Manchu  Tartars,  and, 
aided  by  them,  soon  expelled  the  usurper  from  the  capi- 
tal. The  Tartar  prince  determined  to  keep  to  himself 
the  throne  which  he  had  won  J and  he  was  so  well  re- 
ceived at  Peking,  where  the  Chinese  hailed  him  as  a 
deliverer,  and  he  conducted  matters  with  so  much  dex- 
terity and  prudence,  that  he  found  scarcely  any  difficulty 
in  assuming  the  sovereignty  and  being  proclaimed  em- 
peror. Scarcely,  however,  had  he  been  invested  with 
this  high  dignity  than  he  was  seized  with  a fatal  dis- 
order, of  which  he  died  in  a few  days,  having  named  as 
his  successor  his  son — Shun-chi — a child  only  six  years 
of  age,  whose  uncle  was  appointed  to  govern  as  regent 
during  his  minority. 

Such  was  the  revolution  (A.D.  1644)  which  placed  the 
present  imperial  family  of  the  Manchu  Tartar  race  on 
the  throne  of  China ; but  some  years  elapsed  before  the 


238 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


whole  country  was  brought  under  submission  to  a foreign 
ruler;  for  although  the  provinces  of  the  north,  which 
had  been  disgusted  by  the  tyranny  of  the  usurping 
chief,  had  not  hesitated  to  bestow  the  title  of  emperor 
on  a Tartar,  some  of  the  southern  cities  supported  the 
claims  of  the  native  princes,  and  a long  civil  war  en- 
sued, during  which  the  loyalists  kept  possession  of  the 
south,  and  two  or  three  princes  of  the  Ming  family  were 
successively  proclaimed  emperors  of  Nanking,  and  held 
their  courts  in  that  city. 

The  Chinese  general  Wu  San-kwei  was  raised  to  a very 
high  rank,  and  a principality  was  bestowed  on  him,  with 
the  government  of  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  Shen-si. 
The  fate  of  the  usurper  Li-kung  was  never  known,  but 
it  was  generally  supposed  he  was  killed  in  some  engage- 
ment with  the  Manchus. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  the  last  emperor  of  the  na- 
tive Chinese  dynasty  of  Ming,  and  the  troubles  which 
ended  in  the  overthrow  of  that  ancient  family,  and  con- 
temporaneous with  the  new  order  of  things  established  in 
the  supremacy  of  a foreign  power,  that  the  Dutch  and 
the  English  from  Europe  were  first  led  by  Providence 
to  put  in  their  claims  for  a share  of  the  productions  and 
trade  of  China. 

The  Dutch,  who  had  recently  emancipated  themselves 
from  the  Spanish  yoke,  were  at  this  time  at  war  both 
with  the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese.  The  fierce  con- 
flicts between  these  three  nations,  who  waged  war  by 
land  as  well  as  by  sea,  who  almost  invariably  fought 
wherever  they  met,  and  who  paid  very  little  respect  to 
the  neutrality  of  the  bays  and  harbors  of  China,  were 
certainly  well  calculated  still  farther  to  estrange  so 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTT-TEE  MING. 


239 


peace-loving  and  timid  a people  as  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Celestial  Empire,  and  to  fill  them  with  horror  of  the 
foreigners  of  the  "West.  And  worse  followed.  Having 
defeated  several  Portuguese  armaments,  the  Dutch  cap- 
tured Malacca,  the  Spice  Islands  and  other  places,  and 
in  the  year  1622  they  attacked  the  Portuguese  settlement 
at  Macao  on  the  Canton  river,  with  a squadron  of  seven- 
teen ships.  Being  repulsed,  with  the  loss  of  their  ad- 
miral and  about  three  hundred  men,  the  Dutch  retired 
and  established  themselves  on  the  Pang-hu  or  Pescadore 
Islands.  Their  occupation  of  this  position  was  a source 
of  great  annoyance  to  the  Chinese  authorities  and  to  the 
Portuguese  and  Spaniards.  According  to  the  custom  of 
those  days,  the  Dutch  began  to  build  a fort,  and  obliged 
the  native  Chinese  to  do  their  work,  treating  them  all 
the  while  with  great  harshness  and  severity.  Most  of 
these  unfortunate  Chinese  had  been  kidnapped  or  made 
prisoners  by  the  Dutch  in  the  course  of  their  attacks  on 
the  coasts  of  the  continent.  The  Chinese  authorities 
offered  the  invaders  a liberty  to  trade  if  they  would  only 
move  farther  off  to  Formosa,  an  island  lying  in  the  track 
of  our  commerce,  which  has  of  late  years  attracted  public 
attention,  partly  on  account  of  the  occasional  massacres 
of  the  crews  of  foreign  vessels  wrecked  on  some  portions 
of  its  shores  inhabited  by  wild  aboriginal  tribes,  which 
have  compelled  our  government  to  inflict  severe  punish- 
ment on  some  of  their  towns,  and  partly  as  a'  field  of 
Christian  missions.  The  beginning  of  foreign  inter- 
course was  characteristic.  In  this  rich  and  beautiful 
island  the  Dutch  made  a settlement  in  the  year  1625, 
erecting  Fort  Zealand  on  its  western  shore.  They  in- 
terfered with  the  ancient  laws  and  municipal  institutions 


240 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  tlie  islanders,  and  otherwise  acted  precipitately  and  un- 
wisely, thereby  losing  the  good-will  of  the  people.  They, 
however,  did  not  neglect  the  moral  and  spiritual  interests 
of  the  natives.  In  1626  a devoted  and  able  Dutch  Prot- 
estant minister,  George  Candidius,  was  the  first  ap- 
pointed to  labor  among  the  people,  and  it  is  said  that  in 
sixteen  months  more  than  a hundred  of  the  principal 
men  were  converted  to  the  truths  of  Christianity.  The 
work  is  reported  to  have  been  advancing  rapidly,  with 
an  extending  foundation  of  churches  and  schools,  when 
the  Dutch  governors  in  India,  fearful  of  offending  the 
Japanese,  among  whom  they  had  obtained  a settlement, 
and  who  were  then  persecuting  and  exterminating  the 
Portuguese  Poman  Catholics  in  Japan,  restricted  these 
benevolent  labors  and  discouraged  the  further  conver- 
sion of  the  inhabitants  of  Formosa.  These  restrictions 
arose  entirely  out  of  the  dread  of  losing  the  then  profit- 
able trade  with  J apan ; and  it  must  be  admitted  that  in 
many  parts  of  the  East,  if  the  merchant  has  often  paved 
the  way  for  the  missionary,  the  passion  of  trade  and  love 
of  lucre  have  not  unfrequently  thwarted  the  best  efforts 
made  for  religious  conversion.  During  the  struggles 
which  ensued  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Chinese  Ming 
dynasty  many  thousands  of  families  emigrated  from  the 
continent  to  Formosa,  but  so  long  as  the  Dutch  remained 
on  that  island  their  trade  with  the  Chinese  was  very 
limited.  • 

The  English,  who  were  destined  to  have  in  after  years 
so  very  large  a portion  of  the  Chinese  trade,  scarcely 
had  a glimpse  of  success  until  the  reign  .of  Charles  I. 
A very  unfortunate  attempt  was  made  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth in  1596,  when  some  English  vessels  under  the 


THE  LAST  NATIVE  DYNASTY— THE  MING. 


241 


command  of  Benjamin  Wood,  who  bore  letters  from  the 
queen  to  the  emperor,  made  sail  for  Canton ; but  the 
ships  were  lost  on  their  way  out,  and  thus  a damper  was 
cast  on  such  English  enterprises  for  the  space  of  forty 
years.  Under  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  another  attempt 
was  made  to  open  a trade ; and  on  the  28th  of  May, 
1637,  a small  squadron  of  English  ships,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Weddell,  passed  the  mouths  of  the 
Canton  river  and  anchored  off  Macao,  being  the  first 
vessels  of  that  nation  seen  at  the  place.  The  jealous 
Portuguese  intrigued  against  them,  and  so  did  the  Jesuit 
missionaries.  As  for  the  Celestials,  the  acquaintance  of 
the  English  with  them,  as  usual,  commenced  with  a 
collision  and  a fighl.  The  Chinese  were  induced  by  the 
Portuguese,  who  represented  the  English  to  be  a wicked 
and  cruel  nation  with  whom  they  should  have  no  inter- 
course, to  fire  upon  the  ships  in  the  hope  of  driving 
them  away.  The  result  was,  that  Weddell  attacked  and 
captured  the  fort,  burned  and  destroyed  some  public 
buildings  of  the  neighborhood,  killed  and  wounded  a 
good  many  of  the  people,  and  then  took  as  lawful  prizes 
several  of  their  trading-junks.  Weddell  thus  compelled 
them  to  open  trade  with  him.  So  far  as  relates  to  the 
English,  there  was,  as  may  be  supposed,  after  this  inau- 
spicious opening,  a lull  in  ultra-Eastern  enterprise,  which 
lasted  twenty-seven  years.  It  was  prolonged  by  the  great 
civil  wars,  and  by  the  wars  the  English  were  -waging 
with  the  Dutch,  whose  naval  force  in  the  Eastern  seas 
was  at  that  time  far  superior  to  theirs. 

The  French,  though  at  times  very  active  in  the 
neighboring  countries  of  Cochin-China  and  Siam,  never 

sent  a formal  mission  to  Peking  or  made  any  strenuous 

16 


242 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


efforts  to  obtain  trade  until  the  close  of  the  Opium  War, 
when  a treaty  was  negotiated  in  behalf  of  his  nation  by 
Mons.  de  Lagrene.  Yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the 
missionaries  of  that  nation  have  made  Europeans  better 
acquainted  with  China,  and  given  the  Chinese  more 
knowledge  of  Europe,  than  those  of  any  other  country ; 
and  that  their  treaty,  above  mentioned,  was  the  first,  of 
those  made  at  a time  when  the  Chinese  were  in  a 
position  which  compelled  them  to  accede  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  Western  powers,  which  made  mention  of 
Christianity  and  endeavored  to  remove  the  barriers  to 
its  promulgation. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY. — FIRST  EMPERORS. 

rpHE  family  of  the  youthful  emperor  Shun-chi  with 
great  wisdom  engaged  excellent  tutors,  who  not  only 
instructed  him  in  the  literature  of  the  country,  but  in- 
stilled into  his  mind  such  principles  as  were  likely  to 
fit  him  for  the  government  of  the  conquered  nation. 
Under  the  care  of  these  able  monitors  he  learned  to  be 
just  and  moderate  toward  the  people  over  whom  the 
fortune  of  war  had  placed  him ; and  being  naturally 
well  inclined,  he  attained  to  manhood  with  just  such 
principles  as  were  best  calculated  to  reconcile  the 
Chinese  to  foreign  dominion. 

While  Shun-chi  was  pursuing  his  studies  the  regent 
and  his  generals  were  engaged  in  reducing  the  southern 
part  of  the  country  to  subjection,  and  all  the  finest 
provinces  were  devastated  by  the  long  and  fearful  con- 
test. Many  of  the  great  cities  were  laid  in  ruins ; for 
wherever  the  Tartars  met  with  resistance  they  set  fire  to 
the  houses,  and  demolished  all  the  public  buildings  ex- 
cept the  Buddhist  temples. 

The  traces  of  this  war  are  still  visible  in  China,  where 
many  an  empty  space  is  bounded  by  a dilapidated  wall 
which  once  surrounded  a populous  town,  but  now  encloses 
only  a few  market-gardens ; and  some  of  the  chief  cities 

243 


244 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


are  not  much  more  than  half  their  original  size,  as  may 
he  seen  by  the  extent  of  their  walls,  which  at  present 
encompass  large  spaces  of  ground  where  no  houses  are 
remaining,  and  which  are  usually  devoted  to  the  culture 
of  vegetables  for  food.  A great  part  of  Nanking,  with 
the  imperial  palace,  was  destroyed  at  this  time,  and  there 
are  now  within  its  walls  orchards,  fields,  garden-grounds 
and  scattered  farm-houses,  not  above  one-third  of  the 
area  being  occupied  by  the  present  city. 

One  of  the  most  formidable  opponents  of  the  Tartars 
was  a maritime  chief,  whom  history,  inasmuch  as  his 
cause  failed,  styles  a pirate,  known  by  the  name  of 
Koshinga,  a noted  character  in  the  history  of  the  period, 
not  only  for  his  loyalty  to  the  Chinese  royal  race,  but 
for  his  exploits  against  the  Dutch,  who  had  by  this  time 
considerably  increased  their  Indian  trade,  and  had 
strengthened  their  settlement  in  the  island  of  Formosa. 

Ching  Chilung,  the  father  of  Koshinga,  one  of  the 
richest  merchants  in  China,  had,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
war,  fitted  out  a fleet  at  his  own  expense  to  support  the 
native  princes ; -but  after  the  accession  of  Shun-chi  he 
accepted  the  offer  of  a high  post  at  court,  leaving  the 
command  of  his  fleet  to  his  son,  Koshinga,  who,  instead 
of  following  the  example  of  his  father,  remained  faithful 
to  the  cause  of  the  legitimate  princes.  This  chief  was 
the  terror  of  the  Indian  seas,  where  no  foreign  vessels 
dared  to  appear  during  the  wars,  so  that  all  trade  was 
for  a long  time  suspended.  At  length,  the  Tartars, 
having  taken  Nanking,  laid  siege  to  Canton,  which  by 
the  aid  of  Koshinga’s  fleet  was  enabled  to  hold  out  for 
eight  months,  but  was  at  the  end  of  that  time  obliged  to 
surrender,  and  the  last  prince  of  the  Ming  family  fled 


TIIE  HANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS. 


245 


to  tlxe  court  of  the  king  of  Pegu,  where  he  was  received 
with  the  greatest  hospitality. 

Every  place  of  importance  having  now  submitted  to 
the  conquerors,  the  new  government  was  acknowledged 
throughout  the  empire ; and  shortly  afterward,  on  the 
death  of  the  regent,  in  1652,  Shun-chi,  although  only 
fourteen  years  of  age,  took  the  government  into  his  own 
hands.  The  young  sovereign,  who  no  doubt  acted  by 
the  advice  of  prudent  and  experienced  ministers,  suf- 
fered the  Chinese  to  retain  all  the  rights  and  immunities 
they  had  enjoyed  under  their  native  rulers ; but,  as  he 
found  it  necessary  to  satisfy  his  Tartar  subjects  also,  by 
admitting  them  to  a share  of  the  honors  and  emoluments 
of  the  empire,  he  doubled  the  number  of  officers  of  state 
and  members  of  councils,  making  one  half  Chinese  and 
the  other  half  Tartars — a regulation  which  continues  to 
this  day. 

The  Chinese,  however,  were  required  to  submit  to  one 
mark  of  subjection  which  was  far  more  obnoxious  and 
spread  more  general  discontent  among  them  than  any 
changes  that  could  have  been  introduced  into  the  form 
of  government.  This  was,  that  they  should  divest  them- 
selves of  the  thick  raven  locks  which  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  cherish  with  peculiar  care,  and  adopt  in 
their  stead  the  Tartar  fashion  of  having  the  head 
shaven,  except  sufficient  to  form  a long  plaited  queue 
behind.  A haughty  and  civilized  people  would  natur- 
ally feel  deeply  humiliated  by  such  a badge  of  subjection 
to  a tribe  of  foreign  barbarians.  They  resisted  it  writh 
indignation ; and  it  is  asserted  that  many  chose  to  sub- 
mit their  heads  to  the  executioner  rather  than  to  the 
barber,  for  that  was  the  cruel  alternative,  as  it  was 


246 


THE  ELDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


found  impossible  to  enforce  the  decree  by  any  gentler 
means  than  treating  disobedience  as  rebellion,  and  pun- 
ishing the  offender  accordingly.  The  queues  were  thus 
fully  established,  and  have  been  worn  ever  since.  How- 
ever in  one  locality  an  alleviation  was  granted  to  this  in- 
dignity. The  last  province  to  submit  was  that  on  the 
southern  coast,  next  eastward  of  Canton,  to  which,  in 
commemoration  of  the  final  success  of  their  arms,  the 
new  dynasty  gave  the  name  Fuh-kien — “happily  estab- 
lished.” Its  bold  and  energetic  people  received  permis- 
sion to  retain  the  black  turban  to  cover  the  shaved  head, 
which  they  hated  as  the  badge  of  submission  to  the  Tar- 
tars ; and  this  turban  they  proudly  continue  to  wear.  It 
is  a strange  phenomenon  that,  much  as  the  Chinese  hate 
the  queue,  they  dread  the  loss  of  it,  as  their  acute  con- 
querors made  cutting  off  the  queue  a punishment  to 
mark  the  more  ignominous  crimes,  and  the  want  of  it, 
like  cropped  ears  in  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe,  to  be  a 
proclamation  of  a rogue. 

There  were  some  few  alterations  made  also  in  the 
national  costume,  but  they  were  not  very  striking,  nor 
would  it  be  very  easy  to  describe  them.  With  regard 
to  the  laws,  the  religion  and  the  system  of  government, 
the  conquest  produced  no  change,  for  the  Tartar  sov- 
ereigns governed,  like  their  Chinese  predecessors,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  laid  down  in  the  ancient  books ; so  that, 
although  the  emperor  of  China  is  absolute  lord  of  the 
lands  and  the  people,  he  is  in  some  degree  restrained  by 
the  laws  as  well  as  his  subjects.  He  has  first  the  nui- 
koh,  or  private  cabinet,  composed  of  four  chief  minis- 
ters— two  Tartars  and  two  Chinese — who,  together  with 
certain  high  officers  of  state,  form  the  kiun-ki-chu,  or 


. 

THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS. 


247 


general  council ; but  the  ordinary  business  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  conducted  by  the  luh-pu,  or  six  boards  or 
departments. 

These  boards,  or  their  elements,  were  among  the 
earliest  institutions  of  this  wonderful  empire.  The 
business  of  the  first,  or  Board  of  Civil  Office,  is  to 
take  care  that  all  offices  under  the  government  are 
properly  filled,  and  that  those  to  whom  authority  is  en- 
trusted shall  use  it  with  moderation  and  discharge  their 
several  duties  with  punctuality.  The  members  of  this 
board  are  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  all  the  viceroys, 
magistrates  and  civil  officers  of  every  description,  and 
are  obliged  at  stated  periods  to  send  in  an  account  of 
their  proceedings  to  the  emperor ; so  that  if  any  of  them 
are  guilty  of  misconduct,  it  is  almost  sure  to  be  made 
known,  and  they  are  punished  according  to  their  misde- 
meanors. Each  governor  of  a province  or  city  is  obliged 
to  send  a report  to  the  board  once  in  three  years  as  to 
the  conduct  of  all  magistrates  under  his  jurisdiction, 
and  also  of  any  injuries  done  by  himself  to  his  poorer 
brethren  when  seated  on  the  magisterial  bench  to  dis- 
pense justice ; and  this  statement  is  compared  with  that 
of  others,  who  have  perhaps  been  secretly  keeping  a watch- 
ful eye  upon  him ; so  that  it  is  a dangerous  experiment 
for  a magistrate  to  attempt  to  conceal  his  own  delin- 
quencies, since  they  are  almost  certain  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  board ; and  he  is  then  punished  not 
only  for  the  offence,  but  also  for  the  concealment. 
These  regulations  are  intended  to  protect  the  people 
from  oppression,  and  must  certainly  act  as  a check  to  an 
undue  exertion  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  authorities, 
although  they  may  frequently  be  evaded. 


248 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  second,  or  Board  of  Finance,  has  the  charge  of 
the  government  revenues,  and  its  duty  is  to  superintend 
all  taxes  and  duties  paid  into  the  imperial  treasury  and 
storehouses;  some  being  collected  in  money  and  others  in 
kind.  They  regulate  salaries  and  pensions,  distribute 
the  proper  quantities  of  rice,  silks  and  money  which  are 
allowed  to  princes  and  officers  of  state,  and  keep  general 
accounts  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  various  monopolies,  the  mines,  the  public  mint 
and  other  sources  of  revenue.  The  third  is  the  Board 
of  Bites,  to  which  belongs  the  direction  of  the  state 
ceremonials  observed  among  the  Chinese.  This  board 
appoints  the  days  for  holding  festivals  and  royal  hunts, 
and  for  the  performance  of  sacrifices  and  other  re- 
ligious rites.  It  regulates  the  costume  to  be  worn  by 
the  different  orders  of  the  people,  the  etiquette  of  the 
court  as  well  as,  to  some  extent,  of  private  society,  the 
reception  of  ambassadors,  the  entertainments  given  by 
the  emperor ; and,  in  short,  it  has  the  superintendence 
of  those  outward  forms  and  usages  which  in  China  are 
considered  of  so  much  importance.  It  superintends  also 
education,  the  competitive  examinations,  and  correspond- 
ence with  foreign  nations.  The  fourth  is  the  Board  of 
War,  which  has  the  control  of  the  army  and  navy ; the 
appointment  of  their  officers,  systems  of  discipline, 
commissary  matters,  postal  arrangement  by  means  of 
couriers,  etc.,  and  forts  and  garrisons.  The  fifth  is 
judiciary  in  its  character,  the  Board  of  Punishments, 
which  superintends  the  execution  of  the  penal  laws, 
appeals,  pardons,  fines  and  cases  of  capital  punishment. 
It  is  a fact  which  exhibits  the  great  moderation  and 
equity  of  the  government  that,  among  those  hundreds 


THE  MANOR U DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  249 


of  millions  of  subjects,  capital  punishment  can  in  no  case 
be  administered  without  the  final  reference  of  it  to  this 
board  and  the  imperial  consent.  The  laws  generally  are 
just  and  wise  beyond  those  of  other  Asiatic  countries ; 
indeed,  they  compare  favorably  with  those  of  the  best 
monarchies  of  Europe.  Great  corruptions  have,  how- 
ever, of  late  years  especially,  crept  into  the  administra- 
tion of  them.  The  sixth  court  is  the  Board  of  Public 
W orks,  which  is  charged  with  the  care  of  the  roads,  the 
canals,  bridges,  temples,  palaces  and  all  public  edifices. 

During  the  Ming  dynasty  these  boards  were  located 
both  at  Nanking  and  Peking ; but  Shun-chi  suppressed 
those  at  Nanking,  and  united  the  members  with  those 
at  Peking,  where  all  the  business  has  since  been  trans- 
acted, each  of  the  six  boards  having  its  own  separate 
buildings. 

As  soon  as  the  Tartar  prince  was  firmly  seated  on  the 
throne,  the  Russian  emperor  Alexius,  the  father  of 
Peter  the  Great,  sent  an  embassy  to  China,  with  a view 
to  establish  a commercial  treaty  between  the  two  em- 
pires ; but  the  attempt  failed  from  a curious  circum- 
stance, and  one  that  has  since  been  a cause  of  dispute 
with  the  British  government.  It  was  a custom  of  the 
Tartar  sovereigns  to  exact  from  all  those  over  whom 
they  claimed  supremacy  an  act  of  submission  called  the 
ko-tau,  which  consists  in  making  nine  prostrations  to 
the  ground.  This  ceremony  is  equivalent  to  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  vassalage;  therefore  the  Russian  ambas- 
sador very  properly  refused  to  perform  it,  as  it  would 
not  have  become  him  thus  to  commit  the  dignity  of  his 
master,  who  was  an  independent  as  well  as  a powerful 
prince.  The  refusal  of  the  envoy  gave  great  offence  to 


250 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Shun-clii,  who,  in  consequence,  declined  receiving  the 
embassy.  But  this  was  not  the  only  point  of  disagree- 
ment between  the  two  monarchs,  for  the  Russians  had 
taken  possession  of  some  territories  in  Siberia  which 
were  considered  as  a part  of  Manchu  Tartary ; and  as 
they  would  not  give  them  up,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
erected  a fort  there  for  the  purpose  of  defending  them, 
the  Chinese  government  commenced  a war  for  their 
recovery,  which  was  continued  for  a long  time,  the  Rus- 
sians still  approaching  nearer  and  nearer  to  China  by 
new  conquests,  until  at  length  the  dominions  of  the 
emperor  of  Russia  actually  joined  to  the  territories  of 
China. 

Not  long  after  the  failure  of  the  Russian  embassy,  in 
1655,  the  Dutch,  who  were  very  anxious  to  open  trade 
with  Canton  and  establish  a factory  there,  sent  am- 
bassadors to  the  emperor  with  a petition  to  that  effect. 
They  were  very  courteously  received  by  the  viceroy  of 
Canton,  who  accepted  the  presents  they  carried  to  him. 

The  governor  of  Canton  was  a handsome  young  Tar- 
tar of  prepossessing  manners,  who  invited  the  Dutch  en- 
voys to  dine  with  him,  and  entertained  them  in  a very 
sumptuous  style.  They  were  received  in.  the  great  hall 
of  the  palace  by  his  mother,  who  had  just  arrived  from 
Tartary,  and,  according  to  the  habits  of  the  Tartar 
ladies,  made  no  scruple  of  appearing  before  strangers 
of  the  opposite  sex.  The  dinner  was  served  in  the 
Chinese  fashion,  on  a number  of  small  tables,  not  cov- 
ered with  cloths,  but  ornamented  with  painting  and 
gilding,  at  each  of  which  two  guests  were  seated.  The 
meats  were  served  in  silver  dishes  and  the  wine  in 
golden  cups,  and  during  the  banquet  a party  of  actors, 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  251 


splendidly  habited  in  the  ancient  costume  of  the  coun- 
try, performed  a play  at  one  end  of  the  hall  for  the 
amusement  of  the  company. 

The  Dutch  were  not  a little  surprised  at  the  magnif- 
icence displayed  by  the  Tartar  governor,  and  departed 
highly  gratified  with  the  reception  they  had  met  with, 
and  from  which  they  augured  favorably  for  their  mission ; 
but  in  this  they  were  mistaken,  for  soon  after,  when  they 
arrived  at  Peking,  they  were  scarcely  treated  with  com- 
mon civility  by  the  authorities  there,  who  provided  them 
with  a miserable  lodging  and  very  scanty  entertainment 
until  the  time  was  appointed  for  their  audience. 

The  sovereigns  of  the  East  usually  hold  their  levees 
at  break  of  day  ; consequently  the  ambassadors,  to  their 
great  annoyance,  were  conducted  to  the  palace  over  night 
and  obliged  to  sit  up  in  their  state  dresses,  that  they 
might  be  ready  at  the  moment  their  attendance  was  re- 
quired. Seated  on  the  floor  in  an  outer  apartment,  which 
was  quite  destitute  of  furniture,  they  had  leisure  to  con- 
template by  the  light  of  a few  lamps  a motley  group  of 
beings  in  the  same  uncomfortable  situation  as  themselves, 
all  waiting  also  for  the  honor  of  being  admitted  to  the 
presence  of  the  emperor.  In  one  corner  of  the  room 
was  a barbarian  envoy  from  a prince  of  the  Southern 
Tartars,  dressed  in  a long  coat  of  sheepskin,  dyed  crim- 
son, with  large  boots,  bare  arms  and  a horse’s  tail  dang- 
ling from  his  cap.  Contrasted  with  this  rough-looking 
personage,  was  the  ambassador  of  a Mongol  khan,  who 
wore  a blue  silk  dress,  so  richly  embroidered  that  it 
looked  like  beaten  gold ; and  very  different  from  either 
of  these  was  the  representative  of  the  Grand  Lama,  who 
was  attired  in  a yellow  robe,  with  a broad  hat,  like  that 


252 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


•worn  by  a cardinal,  and  a string  of  large  beads  round 
his  neck.  There  were  many  other  figures,  all  equally 
novel  to  the  eyes  of  the  Europeans,  who  were  no  less 
objects  of  curiosity  to  the  strangers. 

At  length  the  welcome  dawn  appeared,  when,  on  a 
given  signal,  all  started  up,  and  shaking  off  the  weari- 
ness that  had  oppressed  them,  followed  the  officials 
whose  business  it  was  to  conduct  them  to  the  hall  of  au- 
dience. This  hall  is  of  white  marble,  the  entrance  to 
which  is  by  five  flights  of  steps;  the  middle  flight  being 
reserved  exclusively  for  the  emperor,  and  never  pro- 
faned by  the  foot  of  any  other  person.  Here  a scene  of 
extraordinary  pomp  and  splendor  exhibited  itself  to  the 
astonished  eyes  of  the  Dutch.  The  glittering  dresses 
of  the  attendants ; the  gorgeous  banners  displayed  by 
the  soldiers  ranged  on  each  side  of  the  hall ; the  superb 
throne,  around  which  were  displayed  figures  of  the  sun 
made  of  gold,  and  silver  circles  representing  the  moon, 
with  the  crowd  of  officers  and  attendants  in  their  state 
robes,  produced  altogether  a most  imposing  effect. 

The  emperor  had  not  yet  made  his  appearance,  but  all 
the  ambassadors  were  directed  to  prostrate  themselves 
three  times  before  the  empty  throne,  and  at  each  time 
of  kneeling  to  bow  down  their  heads  to  the  ground  three 
times  till  their  foreheads  touched  the  marble  flooring. 
This  was  the  very  ceremony  the  Russian  envoy  had  re- 
fused to  perform ; but  as  the  Hollanders  were  extremely 
anxious  for  the  success  of  their  embassy,  they  did  not 
think  it  prudent  to  make  any  scruple  about  the  matter, 
and  went  through  the  ko-tau  with  a good  grace.  The 
sound  of  bells  soon  announced  the  approach  of  Shun- 
chi ; all  present  fell  on  their  knees  as  he  ascended  the 


THE  MANCHU  D YEASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  253 


steps,  every  eye  being  bent  toward  the  earth,  as  if  none 
were  worthy  to  look  upon  him.  He  walked  up  the  hall 
with  a stately  air  and  seated  himself  on  the  throne,  when 
the  whole  assembly  arose,  and  the  different  envoys  were 
led  forward  to  do  him  homage  by  a repetition  of  the 
nine  prostrations ; but  not  a single  word  nor  even  the 
slightest  mark  of  notice  did  the  haughty  Tartar  vouch- 
safe to  the  disappointed  Europeans,  who  withdrew  with 
no  very  kind  feelings  toward  a prince  before  whom  they 
had  humbled  themselves  to  so  little  purpose.  Both  the 
Tartars  and  Chinese  had,  in  fact,  some  contempt  for  the 
Dutch  people,  in  consequence  of  having  learned  that 
there  was  no  emperor  or  king  in  Holland ; for  they  did 
not  understand  the  nature  of  a republic,  but  thought 
the  Dutch  must  be  a very  poor  and  mean  nation,  that 
could  not  afford  to  maintain  a king.  However,  before 
the  ambassadors  quitted  Peking,  they  were  officially  in- 
formed that  they  might  come  to  China  once  in  eight 
years  to  bring  presents,  but  not  to  trade.  The  presents 
brought  by  ambassadors  were  received  as  a kind  of  tribute 
and  acknowledgment  of  vassalage ; and  thus  the  Chinese 
imbibed  the  absurd  notion  that  all  the  countries  of  Eu- 
rope from  which  embassies  have  been  sent  to  the  em- 
peror of  China  were  subjects  to  him.  The  bloody  wars 
of  the  last  three  reigns  have  compelled  them  to  see  their 
mistake. 

It  is  one  of  the  remarkable  facts  in  the  history  of  Ro- 
manism, which  reveals  how  much  of  power,  how  much 
of  worldly  policy,  and  how  much  of  the  elements  of  final 
defeat  of  its  own  ambitious  ends  it  embodies,  that  this 
first  haughty  Manchu  ruler  of  the  empire  of  China  placed 
himself  under  the  tuition  of  a German  Jesuit,  named 


254 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Adam  Schaal,  whom  he  at  length  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  chief  minister  of  state,  and  consulted  on  every 
affair  of  importance ; so  that,  however  strange  it  may  ap- 
pear, the  empire  of  China  was  for  a time  governed  in 
reality  by  a Christian  missionary.  The  emperor  would 
often  spend  the  whole  day  with  him  at  his  own  house,  in 
order  to  profit  by  his  learning  and  knowledge  of  public 
and  of  scientific  matters;  and  although  he  himself  never 
became  a convert  to  Christianity,  he  did  not  prohibit 
others  from  embracing  that  faith,  and  allowed  two 
churches  to  be  built  at  Peking,  where  several  mission- 
aries came  to  reside. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  thousands  of  families  who  still 
preserved  their  attachment  to  the  late  dynasty  and  had 
emigrated  to  the  island  of  Formosa,  remained  there  with 
the  Dutch,  who  were  in  possession  of  a great  part  of  the 
country.  But  they  soon  had  cause  to  repent  of  having 
admitted  the  Chinese  loyalists  into  the  island,  for  their 
numbers  rapidly  increased  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  it 
was  discovered  that  they  were  holding  a secret  corre- 
spondence with  the  maritime  chief  Koshinga,  who  per- 
sisted in  his  opposition  to  the  new  Tartar  government 
of  China.  This  discovery  excited  some  apprehension 
on  the  part  of  the  Dutch,  whose  fears  were  not  without 
foundation;  for  Koshinga,  who  had  formed  the  bold 
project  of  conquering  the  island  and  setting  himself  up 
as  an  independent  sovereign,  landed  with  a force  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  and,  being  joined  by  the  Chinese 
emigrants,  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  Dutch  forts. 
A desperate  conflict  took  place,  in  which  the  Dutch  suf- 
fered very  severely  and  were  obliged  to  retire  within  the 
forts,  from  which  they  sent  a deputation  to  the  camp  of 


TEE  MANCHTJ  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS. 


255 


the  invader  to  propose  terms  of  accommodation;  but 
Koshinga  refused  to  make  any  terms,  saying  that  For- 
mosa had  always  belonged  to  the  Chinese,  although  they 
had  allowed  strangers  to  reside  there,  but  that  as  they  now 
required  it  for  their  own  occupation,  the  foreigners  must 
immediately'  depart,  as  it  was  no  longer  convenient  to  let 
them  remain.  A regular  warfare  was  then  commenced 
for  possession  of  the  island,  which  lasted  many  months, 
when  the  Dutch  were  obliged  to  give  up  the  contest  and 
betake  themselves  to  their  settlements  in  Java,  on  which 
Koshinga  assumed  the  sovereignty  in  1662,  and  was 
called  by  the  Europeans  “king  of  Formosa.”  Great 
parties  of  Chinese  loyalists  from  time  to  time  left  their 
country  to  place  themselves  under  his  protection,  so  that 
the  number  of  his  subjects  was  constantly  increasing, 
and  he  made  frequent  descents  on  the  maritime  prov- 
inces of  China  guarded  by  the  Tartars,  who  were  much 
harassed  by  his  attacks. 

About  the  time  that  Koshinga  achieved  this  conquest 
the  emperor  Shun-chi  died,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
four,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Kang-hi,  who  was 
then  only  eight  years  old. 

The  new  emperor  became  one  of  the  greatest  monarchs 
that  ever  ruled  over  the  Chinese  territories.  Being  so 
young  when  his  father  died,  four  of  the  ministers  were 
appointed  to  conduct  the  government  during  his  minor- 
ity ; but  as  they  were  all  rather  advanced  in  years,  and 
strongly  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  ancient  usages  of  the 
country,  they  employed  the  authority  with  which  they 
were  entrusted  to  abolish  the  innovations  made  by  the 
late  emperor  and  restore  all  things  to  their  former  state. 
One  cause  of  dissatisfaction  was  the  toleration  which  had 


256 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


been  granted  to  the  Christians,  which  they  feared  might 
in  time,  if  it  were  continued,  be  prejudicial  to  the  ancient 
forms  of  manners,  customs  and  usages  which  had  endured 
for  so  many  ages;  and  as  this  was  in  their  eyes  the  great- 
est evil  that  could  possibly  befall  the  country,  they  used 
their  best  endeavors  to  prevent  it  by  putting  in  prison 
Adam  Schaal  and  another  German  Jesuit,  Ferdinand 
Verbiest,  who  had  also  stood  high  in  the  favor  of  Shun- 
chi,  and  had  been  employed  to  assist  Schaal  in  the  affairs 
of  the  state.  The  two  churches  were  then  destroyed, 
and  all  who  had  professed  the  Christian  faith  were  per- 
secuted with  the  utmost  severity  by  fines,  imprisonment, 
exile,  and  some  even  with  death.  Another  cause,  as  influ- 
ential, was  that  the  disputes  which  had  arisen  very  shortly 
after  their  settlement  in  the  country  between  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Dominicans  and  other  Romanist  monks  had 
degenerated  by  this  time  into  a most  violent  and  un- 
seemly quarrel,  and  that  these  teachers  of  Christianity 
had  begun  to  set  a woeful  example  of  uncharitableness, 
malice  and  contention.  Precisely  the  same  thing  had 
happened  a few  years  before  in  Japan,  and  had  ended  in 
causing  the  massacre  of  more  than  a hundred  thousand 
Japanese.  The  two  Jesuits  were  after  a time  liberated, 
but  the  general  persecution  of  the  Christians  was  contin- 
ued till  the  young  emperor  was  of  an  age  to  take  the 
government  into  his  own  hands.  One  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  put  a stop  to  the  cruelties  to  which  the  Christian 
converts  had  been  subjected,  and  he  made  amends  to 
Verbiest  for  the  sufferings  he  had  endured  by  raising 
him  to  the  same  rank  which  his  father  had  bestowed  on 
Adam  Schaal,  who  had  lately  died  of  old  age. 

In  the  year  1692,  Kang-hi  issued  a decree  permitting 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  257 


the  free  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  putting 
it,  with  regard  to  privileges  and  immunities,  on  the  same 
footing  with  Buddhism,  which  may  be  called  the  dom- 
inant or  most  prevalent  faith  of  the  country;  for  the 
doctrines  of  Confucius,  which  were  followed  only  by  the 
most  refined,  were  properly  not  so  much  a religion  as  a 
code  of  morals  and  manners. 

During  the  regency  Koshinga  had  died,  but  his  son 
had  taken  upon  himself  the  government  of  Formosa, 
and  as  he  inherited  his  father’s  hatred  toward  the  Tar- 
tars, and  was  equally  powerful  at  sea,  he  constantly 
ravaged  the  whole  line  of  the  south-eastern  coast  of 
China.  The  naval  force  of  the  empire  not  being  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  contend  with  that  of  the  pirate  king, 
the  government  issued  an  order  that  all  its  subjects  dwell- 
ing near  the  sea-shore  should  withdraw  ten  miles  into  the 
interior,  so  as  to  leave  only  a barren  tract  of  country  to 
the  invaders.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Portuguese  settle- 
ment of  Macao  were  the  only  persons  exempted  from  the 
general  order;  probably  because  the  government  was 
indifferent  about  the  safety  of  a foreign  colony,  par- 
ticularly as  the  country  beyond  was  defended  by  the 
barrier-wall  that  confined  the  Portuguese  within  certain 
limits.  A great  number  of  villages  near  the  coast  were 

I entirely  destroyed,  and  thousands  of  families  who  had 
lived  by  fishing  were  reduced  to  great  distress  by  being 
obliged  to  remove  from  the  vicinity  of  the  sea.  The 
fishermen,  however,  converted  their  boats  into  smaller 

I ones,  in  which,  with  the  assistance  of  their  families, 
they  could  continue  their  occupation  in  more  shallow 
waters.  The  expulsion  of  the  inhabitants  from  the 
sea-coast  produced  the  desired  effect;  for  the  Formosan 


258 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


chief,  whose  principal  resources  had  been  derived  from 
plundering  the  maritime  towns  and  villages,  found  his 
power  decline  with  his  means  of  acquiring  wealth ; and 
although  he  contrived,  with  some  difficulty,  to  support 
his  authority  till  his  death,  his  son,  about  twenty  years 
after  the  accession  of  Kang-hi,  gave  up  his  island  in 
consideration  of  a title  and  a pension  for  life. 

Formosa  was  thus  united  to  the  Chinese  empire,  and 
has  proved  a valuable  acquisition,  as  it  is  extremely  fer- 
tile, producing  in  abundance  fruits,  corn  and  rice,  of 
which  large  quantities  are  sent  annually  to  China.  The 
loyalists  who  had  taken  refuge  there,  having  lost  their 
leader,  made  submission  to  the  Tartar  emperor,  and  re- 
ceived a full  pardon,  but  were  obliged  to  shave  their 
heads,  like  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

Such  of  the  poor  islanders  as  did  not  flee  to  the 
mountains  in  the  interior,  where  they  rapidly  degen- 
erated into  an  almost  ravage  condition,  were  compelled 
to  adopt  the  dress  and  manners  of  the  people  of  the  con- 
tinent. They  were  cruelly  treated  by  the  Chinese  be- 
cause they  had  submitted  to  the  Dutch  and  had  adopted 
many  European  customs  and  notions.  With  more  pru- 
dent management  and  a few  hundred  more  troops  the 
Hollanders  might  certainly  have  kept  possession  of 
Formosa. 

But  brief  and,  in  some  respects,  unwise  as  was  their 
dominion,  the  Dutch  left  behind  them  deep  traces  of 
their  civilization  and  religion.  The  Jesuit  Du  Halde, 
who  wrote  .seventy  years  after  their  expulsion,  and  who 
was  not  likely  to  judge  too  favorably  of  them,  says  of 
the  Chinese  on  the  island,  “There  are  many  who  yet 
understand  the  Dutch  language,  who  can  read  the  books 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  259 


of  the  Dutch,  and  who  in  writing  use  their  letters; 
many  fragments  of  pious  Dutch  books  are  found 
amongst  them.”  The  same  Romanist  writer  takes  pains 
to  misrepresent  the  Protestant  religion  by  saying  that 
while  they  adored  no  idols,  and  abominated  every 
approach  to  them,  they  themselves  performed  no  act  of 
worship  whatsoever,  and  recited  no  prayers.  The  entire 
population  of  the  island  is  at  this  day  estimated  at  about 
three  millions,  which  is  as  much  as  the  population  of 
Scotland,  and  more  than  that  of  several  independent 
kingdoms  on  the  European  continent.  Formosa  has 
long  been  familiarly  known  as  the  granary  of  the 
Chinese  maritime  provinces,  to  which  she  stands  in  the 
same  relation  as  Sicily  did  to  ancient  Rome.  If  wars 
intervene  or  violent  storms  prevent  the  shipment  of  rice 
to  the  coast,  a scarcity  presently  ensues,  and  extensive 
distress,  with  another  certain  result,  multiplied  piracies 
by  the  destitute  Chinese.  In  addition  to  the  rice,  which 
annually  employs  in  the  coast  trade  alone  more  than  two 
hundred  large  junks,  Formosa  exports  an  immense 
quantity  of  sugar.  Much  of  the  camphor  sold  in  the 
Canton  market  is  also  supplied  by  Formosa.  Among 
the  merchants  of  the  island  are  men  with  very  large 
capital  and  abundant  commercial  enterprise.  The  posi- 
tion of  Formosa  is  admirable  as  affording  facilities  for 
trade ; within  thirty  leagues  of  China,  and  a hundred 
and  fifty  leagues  of  Japan,  its  situation  and  resources 
make  it  a desirable  station  for  the  commerce  which  is 
now  opening,  and  yet  to  be  opened,  in  those  long-forbid- 
den lands.  But,  unfortunately,  except  Ke-lung,  there 
is  no  good  harbor  for  large  vessels  on  the  whole  coast. 
That  portion  of  Ilha  Formosa,  or  “Beautiful  Island,” 


260 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


which  is  possessed  by  the  Chinese  colonists  well  deserves 
its  name ; the  scenery  is  charming,  the  air  wholesome 
and  the  soil  very  fertile.  The  numerous  rivulets  from 
the  mountains  fertilize  the  extensive  plains  which  spread 
below.  All  the  trees  are  so  nicely  ranged  that  when 
the  rice  is  planted,  as  usual,  in  rows  or  in  square  plats, 
the  vast  plain  of  the  southern  part  of  the  island  resem- 
bles a garden.  Almost  all  grains  and  fruits  may  be 
produced  on  one  part  of  the  island  or  another,  but  rice, 
sugar,  camphor  and  tobacco  are  the  chief  exports.  It 
is  curious  to  remark  that,  though  lying  opposite  to  the 
Chinese  coast,  and  within  one  day’s  sail  of  the  port  of 
Amoy,  Formosa  does  not  appear  to  have  attracted  the 
notice  of  the  Chinese  government  till  a modern  date. 
According  to  their  history,  they  had  no  knowledge  of  it 
till  the  year  1430,  when  an  officer  of  the  imperial  court 
was  driven  upon  the  island  by  a storm.  A century  after 
this  date  it  is  described  as  being  uncultivated  and  inhab- 
ited only  by  savages.  According  to  recent  accounts, 
some  of  these  aborigines  remain  in  a very  rude  condi- 
tion; they  occupy  regions  difficult  of  access,  and  are 
wholly  independent  of  the  Chinese.  They  have  no 
king  or  common  head,  but  are  ruled  by  petty  chiefs  and 
councils  of  elders,  and  in  many  other  respects  resemble 
the  tribes  of  North  American  Indians.  They  have  no 
books,  no  written  language.  In  their  marriages,  which 
are  made  by  mutual  choice,  it  is  not  the  bridegroom 
that  takes  home  the  bride,  but  the  bride  that  takes  home 
the  bridegroom,  who  lives  in  her  parents’  house  and 
returns  no  more  to  the  house  of  his  father ; and  there- 
fore, it  is  said,  they  think  it  no  happiness  to  have  male 
children.  They  are  of  a slender  shape  and  olive  com- 


TEE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  261 


plexion ; they  wear  long  hair,  blacken  their  teeth  and 
tattoo  their  skins ; they  are  said  to  be  honest  and  frank 
among  themselves,  but  excessively  vindictive  when  out- 
raged. In  the  mountains  they  go  clad  in  deer  skins. 
Some  of  them  are  more  civilized,  but  these  live  in  towns 
and  villages  in  the  plains  or  open  country,  and  are 
completely  in  subjection  to  the  Chinese.  Hence  there 
have  been,  and  still  are,  frequent  insurrections  and  in- 
ternal wars.  The  capital  of  the  whole  island  of  Formosa 
is  called  Tai-wan,  and  is  described  as  ranking  amongst 
cities  of  the  first  class  in  China  in  the  variety  and  rich- 
ness of  its  merchandise  and  in  population. 

Kang-hi  was  a prince  to  make  himself  very  popular, 
for  he  was  a great  hunter,  and  thus  acquired  a high 
military  reputation  among  the  Tartars,  who  regarded 
hunting  and  war  as  pursuits  equally  honorable  and  im- 
portant ; and  he  gained  the  good-will  of  the  Chinese  by 
honoring  and  rewarding  literary  merit,  and  by  attending 
in  person  to  the  welfare  of  his  subjects.  Every  year  he 
made  a progress  through  some  of  the  provinces,  to  see 
that  the  magistrates  performed  their  duties  and  that  the 
people  were  not  oppressed  by  them.  On  these  occasions 
the  people  of  the  cities  usually  made  a grand  display ; 
as,  for  instance,  on  his  visit  to  Nanking  in  1689,  tri- 
umphal arches  were  erected  in  all  the  principal  streets, 
at  the  distance  of  about  twenty  paces  from  each  other, 
gayly  adorned  with  ribbons,  silks  and  fringes;  and 
when  he  made  his  entry  on  horseback,  with  a numerous 
train  of  guards  and  gentlemen,  he  was  met  by  a deputa- 
tion from  the  citizens,  bearing  silken  banners,  canopies, 
parasols  and  other  ornamental  ensigns  used  by  the 
Chinese  on  great  occasions.  The  streets  were  crowded 


262 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


with  people  as  he  passed  along ; but,  although  so  many 
thousands  were  assembled,  such  was  their  habitual  awe 
of  majesty  that  not  even  a whisper  disturbed  the  solemn 
silence  which  prevailed. 

From  Nanking  the  emperor  proceeded  to  the  wealthy 
city  of  Su-chau,  which,  from  the  beauty  of  its  situation, 
the  luxury  of  its  inhabitants,  and  the  circumstance  of 
many  of  the  streets  being  intersected  with  canals,  on 
which  pleasure-boats  are  continually  gliding,  has  been 
called  the  Venice  of  China.  Here  the  people  laid  down 
rich  silks  and  carpets  along  the  streets  through  which 
the  royal  train  was  to  pass — a mark  of  respect  that  was 
highly  pleasing  to  the  emperor,  who,  instead  of  riding 
over  them,  as  was  expected,  dismounted  at  the  gate  of 
the  city,  and  desiring  his  whole  suite  to  do  the  same, 
proceeded  on  foot  to  the  palace ; an  act  of  consideration 
which  probably  did  more  toward  raising  the  monarch  in 
the  public  estimation  than  many  of  his  greater  deeds. 
Another  incident  is  said  to  have  occurred  during  this 
progress,  which  may  serve  to  show  the  summary  mode 
in  which  justice  was  executed  upon  those  mandarins 
who  were  found  to  have  abused  their  authority. 

Kang-hi,  who  was  a little  apart  from  his  attendants, 
saw  an  old  man  sitting  on  the  ground  weeping  bitterly. 
Hiding  up  to  him,  he  inquired  the  cause  of  his  grief. 
“ My  lord,”  said  the  old  man,  who  was  ignorant  of  the 
rank  of  his  interrogator,  “ I have  cause  enough  for  sor- 
row. My  only  son,  who  was  the  joy  of  my  life  and  the 
support  of  my  declining  years,  has  been  taken  from  me 
by  force  to  serve  the  governor  of  the  province,  and  I 
have  no  one  to  comfort  me  in  my  old  age  or  to  mourn 
over  my  tomb.”  The  emperor  asked  if  he  had  endeav- 


THE  MANCHTJ  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  263 


ored  to  obtain  some  redress.  “ Alas !”  replied  he,  “ how 
is  it  possible  for  me,  a poor  weak  old  man,  to  force  a 
great  magistrate  to  do  me  justice?”  “We  will  presently 
see  that,”  said  the  monarch ; “ get  up  behind  me,  and 
show  me  the  way  to  this  governor’s  house ; perhaps  it 
will  not  be  so  difficult  to  obtain  justice  as  you  may 
imagine.”  The  poor  man  mounted  as  he  was  desired, 
and  they  forthwith  rode  to  the  magistrate’s  palace,  where 
the  imperial  guards  and  a large  party  of  grandees,  who 
had  missed  the  emperor,  arrived  just  at  the  same  time 
in  great  consternation.  Kang-hi,  entering  the  palace, 
charged  the  governor  with  his  violent  conduct.  The 
offender,  not  being  able  to  deny  the  accusation,  was  con- 
demned to  lose  his  head,  and  the  sentence  was  executed 
on  the  spot ; when  the  emperor,  turning  to  the  old  man, 
said,  “To  make  you  amends  for  the  injury  you  have 
sustained,  I appoint  you  governor  of  this  province,  in 
the  room  of  him  who  has  proved  himself  so  unworthy 
of  that  office.  Let  his  crime  and  punishment  be  a 
warning  to  you  to  use  your  power  more  justly.” 

It  was  during  this  reign  that  the  Chinese  learned  the 
art  of  casting  cannon,  in  which  they  were  instructed  by 
the  Jesuit  Verbiest,  under  whose  inspection  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of  artillery  were  founded,  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  emperor,  who  made  a solemn 
feast  under  tents  in  the  fields  on  the  occasion  of  their 
being  tried ; his  majesty  and  the  court  being  lodged  in 
an  immense,  splendid  tent  or  temporary  palace,  contain- 
ing a grand  hall  of  audience  and  other  apartments,  all 
lined  with  embroidered  silks.  Gunpowder  had  been 
known  and  made  in  China  from  a very  early  period,  but 
it  had  been  used  chiefly  in  the  composition  of  fireworks, 


264 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  which  the  Chinese  always  made  a great  display  at 
their  festivals ; and  it  is  stated  by  the  Jesuits  that  it  was 
not  till  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  that 
they  became  acquainted  with  its  application  as  an  agent 
in  warfare,  when  the  Portuguese,  during  the  war  with 
the  Manchus,  lent  them  three  cannon  for  the  defence 
of  the  city  of  Nanking,  with  men  to  manage  them. 
The  fame  of  Yerbiest  was  considerably  raised  by  the 
important  service  he  had  rendered  to  the  state  in 
furnishing  it  with  artillery,  and  a title  of  honor  was  be- 
stowed on  him  in  consequence.  He  also  gained  much 
credit  and  influence  by  reforming  the  calendar,  which 
had  been  suffered  to  fall  into  such  confusion  that  it  was 
found  necessary  to  leave  out  a whole  month  of  one  year 
to  bring  it  into  regular  order.  Yet  the  composition  of 
the  almanacs  is  considered  an  affair  of  so  much  import- 
ance that  it  is  the  chief  business  of  an  assembly  of 
learned  officers,  who  compose  what  is  called  the  As- 
tronomical Bureau ; and  when  the  error  in  their  calcula- 
tions was  discovered,  the  president  was  banished  to  Tar- 
tary for  his  incompetency  for  the  duties  of  his  office,  and 
Yerbiest  was  placed  at  the  head  of  that  department  in 
his  stead;  according  to  that  singular  feature  of  the 
Chinese  government  which  punishes  inability  in  office  as 
a crime  on  the  ground  that  no  man  ought  to  undertake 
that  which  he  is  not  able  to  perform,  the  same  principle 
on  which  a military  commander  is  sometimes  disgraced 
in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  a battle  or  the  failure  of 
an  enterprise  in  which  he  may  have  done  his  best  to 
succeed. 

As  the  astronomy  of  the  nations  of  the  East  is  a very 
interesting  subject,  some  remarks  upon  its  practical  as- 


THE  MANCUU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  265 


pects  may  be  interesting  here.  The  appointments  which 
relate  to  religious  times  and  seasons  or  those  of  the 
state  are  considered  of  sufficient  importance  to  require 
their  regulation  by  a special  bureau,  which  is  subordinate 
to  the  Board  of  Bites.  A principal  employment  of  its 
members  is  to  make  the  almanacs ; they  have  also  to 
calculate  the  eclipses,  and  to  present  to  the  emperor  at 
the  end  of  every  forty-five  days  an  exact  statement  of 
the  position  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  together  with  the  ob- 
servations which  have  been  made  during  that  time.  An 
eclipse  is  considered  a great  event  in  China.  Some  time 
before  it  takes  place  notices  are  sent  to  the  governors  of 
every  province  and  city  throughout  the  empire,  that 
they  may  prepare  for  the  performance  of  the  accustomed 
solemnities  that  are  always  observed  on  the  occasion. 
Large  printed  bills  are  immediately  posted  on  the  pub- 
lic buildings,  and  orders  are  sent  to  the  magistrates  to 
assemble  in  the  large  halls  appointed  for  that  purpose, 
whither  they  repair  on  the  morning  of  the  given  day  in 
their  robes  of  ceremony  and  take  their  seats  at  tables,  on 
some  of  which  are  said  to  be  delineated  all  the  eclipses 
which  have  occurred  for  more  than  four  thousand  years. 

The  ceremonies  observed  on  the  occasion  of  an  eclipse 
have  somewhat  of  a religious  character,  and  originated 
in  ignorance  of  the  causes  of  the  phenomenon,  which 
was  anciently  believed  to  be  the  forerunner  of  some 
dreadful  calamity ; and  although  the  more  intelligent 
classes  of  the  Chinese  are  now  aware  that  the  effect  is 
produced  by  natural  causes,  they  are  too  much  attached 
to  their  old  customs  to  discontinue  them.  The  magis- 
trates being  assembled  in  the  Hall  of  Astronomy,  place 
themselves  at  the  tables  before  mentioned,  waiting  for 


266 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  commencement  of  the  eclipse.  The  moment  the  snn 
or  moon,  whichever  it  may  be,  begins  to  be  darkened, 
drums  and  gongs  are  sounded  in  the  town,  and  the  peo- 
ple all  prostrate  themselves,  bowing  their  heads  till  their 
foreheads  touch  the  earth,  and  in  this  position  they  con- 
tinue as  long  as  the  orb  remains  shadowed  ; while  some 
of  the  members  of  the  Astronomical  Board  are  at  the 
observatory  watching  the  progress  of  the  eclipse  and 
noting  down  their  observations,  which  are  afterward  ex- 
amined and  compared  with  the  computations  made  by 
the  chief  tribunal,  and  a report  is  transmitted  to  the 
emperor. 

The  distribution  of  the  almanacs  at  the  beginning  of 
every  year  is  also  attended  with  many  solemnities. 
There  is  no  work  in  the  world  of  which  so  many  copies 
are  printed  as  the  Chinese  calendar,  the  number  being 
estimated  at  several  millions,  which  is  not  improbable, 
considering  the  amount  of  population  and  that  almost 
every  family  uses  an  almanac  as  an  oracle ; since,  besides 
the  usual  information,  it  not  only  predicts  the  weather, 
but  notes  the  days  that  are  reckoned  lucky  or  unlucky 
for  commencing  any  undertaking,  for  applying  remedies 
in  diseases,  for  marrying  or  for  burying;  and,  in  short,  it 
is  consulted  by  the  people  in  many  cases  where  their  own 
reason  would  be  a better  guide.  The  calendar  is  an  im- 
perial monopoly,  and  no  other  than  that  prepared  by  the 
Astronomical  Board  is  allowed  to  be  published,  the  law 
on  this  point  being  so  strict  that  a violation  of  it  would 
be  punished  with  death.  The  almanacs  are  all  printed 
at  Peking,  and  according  to  the  Homan  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries, they  formerly  were,  and  it  is  possible  now  are, 
distributed  through  the  empire  in  the  following  manner : 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  267 


On  a certain  day  appointed  for  the  ceremonial  in  the  capi- 
tal, the  principal  officials  repair  early  in  the  morning 
to  the  palace,  while  the  members  of  the  board,  arrayed  in 
their  state  dresses,  proceed  to  their  hall  to  escort  the  books, 
which  are  carried  in  procession  to  the  imperial  residence. 
Those  which  are  intended  for  the  emperor,  the  empress 
and  the  queens,  are  bound  in  yellow  satin,  and  enclosed 
in  bags  of  cloth  of  gold,  which  are  placed  on  a large 
gilded  litter  borne  by  forty  footmen  clothed  in  yel- 
low. Then  follow  ten  or  twelve  smaller  litters,  enclosed 
with  red  silk  curtains,  and  containing  the  books  to  be 
given  to  the  princes,  which  are  bound  in  red  satin  and 
enclosed  in  bags  of  silver  cloth.  These  are  followed  by 
men  bearing  on  their  shoulders  other  conveyances,  on 
which  are  piled  the  calendars  intended  for  the  grandees 
of  the  court  and  the  generals  of  the  army;  the  cavalcade 
is  completed  by  the  president  and  members  of  the  bu- 
reau in  sedans,  followed  by  their  usual  attendants.  On 
arriving  at  the  palace,  the  golden  bags  are  laid  on  two 
tables  covered  with  yellow  damask,  when  the  members 
of  the  bureau,  having  first  prostrated  themselves,  deliver 
them  to  the  proper  officers,  who  receive  them  kneeling, 
and  carry  them  with  great  ceremony  to  the  foot  of  the 
throne.  The  silver  bags  are  sent  in  a similar  manner  to 
all  the  princes  of  the  royal  family,  after  which  the  min- 
isters and  other  great  officers  of  state  present  themselves 
in  turn  and  kneel  with  reverence  to  receive  their  alma- 
nacs, which  are  regarded  as  gifts  from  the  emperor. 
The  ceremonies  of  distribution  at  the  court  being  con- 
cluded, the  books  intended  for  the  use  of  the  people  are 
sent  by  the  bureau  into  every  province  of  the  empire, 
where  the  forms  observed  at  the  imperial  palace  are  re- 


268  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

peatecl  at  the  offices  of  the  chief  officers,  after  which 
the  people  are  allowed  to  purchase  their  almanacs ; and 
as  this  is  a privilege  of  which  few  omit  to  avail  them- 
selves, the  sale  must  be  immense  and  must  largely  add 
to  the  revenue. 

The  Jesuits  availed  themselves  of  the  superstitious 
interest  of  the  Chinese  in  astronomy  to  obtain  the  favor 
of  the  government  and  to  propagate  their  religion.  The 
Chinese  had  many  astronomical  instruments  at  a very 
early  period  of  their  history ; but  these  were  greatly 
improved  and  some  new  ones  introduced  by  the  Jesuits, 
who  acquired  extraordinary  influence  by  their  inculca- 
tion of  the  arts  and  sciences.  The  first  clocks  of  our 
kind  and  the  first  watches  seen  in  China  were  presented 
to  Kang-hi  by  one  of  the  Jesuit  fathers ; and  another 
member  of  the  fraternity,  to  gratify  the  ladies  of  that 
emperor’s  court,  constructed  for  them  a camera-obscura, 
an  instrument  with  which  they  were  much  delighted,  as 
it  enabled  them  to  see  what  was  passing  outside  the 
palace  gates.  In  consequence  of  the  encouragement 
received  by  the  Jesuits,  Christianity  made  greater  prog- 
ress in  China  during  the  reign  of  Kang-hi  than  at  any 
period  either  before  or  since.  Many  persons  of  rank, 
both  male  and  female,  openly  professed  the  Christian 
faith,  and  a church  was  built  for  their  accommodation 
near  the  palace ; besides  which,  several  places  of  worship 
for  Christians  were  erected  in  different  parts  of  Peking, 
as  well  as  in  other  large  cities.  Some  of  the  arts  of 
China  were  bestowed  upon  the  people  of  Europe  through 
these  missionaries.  Among  the  edifices  referred  to 
was  a church  built  by  a French  Jesuit  named  D’Entre- 
colles,  at  the  famous  village  or  town  of  King-tsz-ching, 


THE  MANCHTJ  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  269 


where  a great  porcelain  manufacture  was  then  carried 
on ; and  there  he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the 
whole  process  of  that  beautiful  art,  which  was  first 
brought  into  Europe  by  him,  when,  on  the  death  of 
Kang-hi,  the  Christian  missionaries  were  obliged  to  quit 
the  country.  Among  the  Jesuits  resident  at  this  time 
in  Peking  was  Gerbillon,  a native  of  France,  who  was 
employed  by  the  emperor  on  a mission  into  Tartary, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  negotiate  a peace  with  the 
Russians,  who  had  been  at  war  with  the  Chinese 
ever  since  the  rejection  of  their  embassy  by  the  late 
emperor  Shun-chi,  who  refused  to  acknowledge  their 
right  to  the  territories  they  had  occupied  in  Manchu 
Tartary. 

The  negotiations  were  successful;  peace  was  concluded, 
and  a trade  established  between  Russia  and  China  by  a 
treaty  signed  by  the  two  emperors,  Alexius  and  Kang-hi, 
in  the  year  1689.  The  boundaries  of  the  Russian  em- 
pire, which  had  been  the  ground  of  dispute,  were  pre- 
cisely defined,  and  it  was  agreed  that  caravans  should 
be  sent  at  stated  periods  to  Peking,  and  be  allowed  to 
remain  there  until  they  had  disposed  of  their  goods.  A 
caravanserai  in  the  suburbs  was  allotted  for  the  resi- 
dence of  the  merchants,  and  their  expenses  while  they 
remained  were  to  be  defrayed  by  the  emperor  of  China. 
The  trade  thus  conducted  was  a monopoly  of  the  Rus- 
sian government ; but  there  were  private  merchants  also 
who  traveled  to  China,  and  transacted  business  on  their 
own  account  with  the  Chinese  merchants  at  an  annual 
fair  held  ofi  the  frontiers ; but  they  were  not  permitted  to 
proceed  to  Peking  like  the  government  agents,  nor  even 
to  enter  the  strictly  Chinese  territories. 


270 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  principal  wars  of  Kang-hi,  after  the  submission 
of  Formosa,  were  with  the  Eleuth  and  Songares  Tartars, 
which  had  been  very  large  and  powerful  tribes.  The 
former  were  completely  subdued  in  the  course  of  three 
years’  warfare  by  the  victorious  arms  of  the  Chinese 
emperor,  who  by  this  conquest  greatly  extended  his 
dominions  in  Tartary.  Before  proceeding  to  extremities 
with  the  Eleuths,  who  had  long  given  great  trouble  to 
the  government,  Kang-hi  (in  the  year  1713)  sent  an 
embassy  to  the  khan  of  the  Tourgouth  Tartars,  then 
settled  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Caspian  sea.  The 
Chinese  wrote  a curious  account  of  the  whole  mission, 
which  has  been  handsomely  translated  by  Sir  George 
Staunton  from  the  original  language.  The  details  of  the 
journey,  with  the  emperor’s  own  instruction  for  the 
conduct  of  his  ambassador,  are  especially  curious  and 
interesting.  To  commemorate  the  glory  of  the  war 
against  the  Eleuths,  a French  missionary  made  a series 
of  clever  drawings,  and  these  were  sent  by  the  desire  of 
the  emperor  to  Paris  and  there  engraved  on  copper 
plates.  In  the  year  1721,  Kang-hi,  then  far  advanced  in 
years,  celebrated  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  and  as  he  was  the  first  sovereign  of  China 
whose  reign  had  been  lengthened  to  this  term,  a grand 
jubilee  took  place  on  the  occasion  throughout  the  whole 
empire.  Sixty  is  a number  held  in  especial  veneration 
among  the  Chinese,  and  the  sixtieth  birth-day  of  any 
private  individual  is  always  celebrated  with  great  festivi- 
ties by  the  family ; but  the  event  of  a monarch  having 
arrived  at  that  epoch  of  his  reign,  particularly  one  who 
was  so  much  beloved  and  respected,  was  an  especial 
cause  of  rejoicing,  which  was  testified  in  the  usual  way 


THE  MANCUU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  271 


by  sacrifices  to  tbe  gods,  illuminations,  feastings,  fire- 
works and  a variety  of  amusements. 

On  all  festive  occasions  in  China  the  sacrifices  consti- 
tute an  important  part  of  the  ceremonials,  and  as  there 
are  no  priests  of  the  Confucian  or  state  religion,  the  em- 
peror officiates  as  high  priest  in  the  capital,  whilst  in  all 
the  other  cities  the  governor  or  chief  official  acts  in 
that  capacity.  The  greatest  annual  festival  on  which 
the  sovereign  appears  in  his  sacerdotal  character  is  that 
of  the  celebration  of  the  season  of  spring,  which  takes 
place  about  the  middle  of  February,  and  is  one  of  those 
ancient  observances  that  help  to  preserve  the  primitive 
character  of  the  nation.  It  is  then  that  the  emperor 
performs  the  part  of  the  husbandman  by  ploughing  and 
sowing  seed  in  an  enclosure  set  apart  for  that  purpose 
near  the  palace — a ceremony  never  omitted  by  Kang-hi, 
who  was  very  attentive  to  all  observances  that  were  held 
in  reverence  among  the  people.  The  day  for  the  royal 
ploughing  was  fixed  by  the  Board  of  Rites,  and  this 
ceremony  was  accompanied  by  many  solemnities  on  the 
part  of  the  emperor  and  those  who  were  to  assist  at  the 
sacrifices ; such  as  fasting  for  three  days  until  the  eve- 
ning of  each,  and  abstaining  from  all  kinds  of  amuse- 
ments during  that  period.  Several  princes  were  also 
deputed  on  the  eve  of  the  festival  to  visit  the  Hall  of 
Ancestors — a temple  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the 
imperial  relatives  who  had  departed  this  life — where 
many  rites  and  ceremonies  were  performed  before  the 
tablets  on  which  their  names  were  engraven. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  festival  the  emperor, 
attended  by  the  great  officers  of  state,  repairs  to  the 
Temple  of  the  Earth,  where  he  makes  sacrifices  and  im- 


272 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


plores  a blessing  on  the  labors  of  tbe  spring,  that  they 
may  produce  a plentiful  harvest ; and  when  these  rites 
are  ended  he  descends  from  the  temple  into  the  field, 
where  all  the  requisite  preparations  have  been  made  by 
forty  or  fifty  husbandman,  who  are  in  attendance.  The 
emperor  ploughs  a few  furrows  with  his  own  hand,  and 
sows  five  sorts  of  grain ; after  which  twelve  grandees  of 
the  first  rank  plough  and  sow  in  turn,  and  then  the 
work  is  completed  by  the  professional  husbandmen,  each 
of  whom  receives  a present  of  a piece  of  cotton  cloth. 
The  produce  of  this  field  is  held  sacred,  and  carefully 
preserved  in  a granary  by  itself,  to  be  used  for  the  most 
solemn  sacrifices.  The  ploughing  by  the  imperial  hus- 
bandman takes  place  only  in  the  capital,  but  in  every 
large  city  a corresponding  ceremony  is  performed,  called 
“ meeting  the  spring,”  when  the  governor  assumes  the 
character  of  high  priest,  and  goes  out  in  state,  carried  in 
a finely-ornamented  sedan-chair,  preceded  by  banners, 
lighted  torches  and  music.  He  is  followed  by  several 
high  officers  in  their  sedans,  and  by  a number  of  litters, 
in  which  are  placed  children,  who  are  fancifully  dressed 
and  crowned  with  flowers,  representing  various  deities 
connected  with  the  labors  of  the  field.  But  the  most 
prominent  figure  among  the  dramatis  personce  is  a huge 
earthen  buffalo,  the  representative  of  the  spring,  wffiich 
is  borne  in  procession  to  meet  the  high  priest,  who  de- 
livers a lecture  on  the  benefits  of  husbandry,  which  is 
one  of  sixteen  discourses  read  annually  to  the  people. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  lecture  he  strikes  the  buffalo 
three  times  with  a staff,  when  it  is  immediately  broken 
in  pieces  by  the  populace,  and  a number  of  little  porce- 
lain cows  with  which  it  was  filled  furnish  materials  for  a 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  273 


scramble.  The  rest  of  the  day  is  devoted  to  amusements, 
among  which  the  most  popular  are  plays  performed  by 
companies  of  strolling  actors,  who  set  up  temporary 
theatres  in  the  streets  ; the  expenses  being  paid,  on  this 
occasion,  by  the  government. 

It  is  thus,  according. to  the  Jesuits,  that  the  rulers 
of  China,  both  by  precept  and  example,  stimulate  their 
subjects  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  so  essential  to  the 
support  of  the  empire.  The  intention  of  these  ceremo- 
nies is  obviously  to  countenance  that  superiority  in  point 
of  rank  which  the  farmers  and  producers  have  invari- 
ably held  over  those  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits ; for 
the  rulers  of  China,  from  the  earliest  period  to  the  pres- 
ent, have  always  deemed  it  better  policy  to  make  the 
empire  entirely  dependent  on  its  own  resources  for 
food  and  clothing,  than  to  obtain  those  necessaries 
or  add  to  its  wealth  by  foreign  trade,  which  has 
hitherto  been  only  tolerated  and  never  encouraged  by 
the  government. 

But  we  are  describing  things  which,  if  their  forms 
remain,  do  not  receive  the  respect  they  once  enjoyed. 
From  numerous  recent  authorities,  and  more  particularly 
from  that  excellent  publication,  the  Chinese  Repos - 
itory,  formerly  issued  by  the  American  missionaries 
at  Canton,  we  learn  that  this  great  agricultural  celebra- 
tion has  in  many  parts  of  the  empire  dwindled  into  an 
empty  show;  that  only  the  most  puerile  parts  of  the 
ceremony  are  performed ; that  the  emperor  is  often  repre- 
sented by  proxy ; and  that  even  the  magistrates,  instead 
of  putting  their  own  hands  to  the  plough,  are  frequently 
represented  by  inferior  substitutes,  who  help  to  turn  the 

whole  thing  into  a mere  mockery.  In  very  few  in- 
is 


274 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


stances  are  the  pictures  drawn  by  the  Jesuits  and  other 
old  writers  to  be  taken  as  faithful  representations  of 
China,  its  government  and  people  as  they  now  are ; in 
still  fewer  are  we  to  expect  that  the  ancient  laws,  re- 
scripts and  regulations  are,  to  the  very  letter,  carried 
out  in  practice. 

The  emperor  Kang-hi  rendered  inestimable  service  to 
the  nation  by  several  literary  productions.  Two  great 
dictionaries  of  the  language — one  for  the  learned,  on 
which  seventy-six  profound  scholars  spent  eight  years 
of  labor,  and  another  for  general  use,  less  comprehen- 
sive— were  prepared  under  his  careful  supervision,  and 
are  monuments,  ‘which  will  never  decay,  of  his  intelli- 
gence and  wisdom.  The  production  which,  however, 
has  made  his  name  best  known  to  all  his  people,  and  his 
influence  most  profoundly  and  beneficially  felt,  is  the 
celebrated  book  to  which  we  once  before  briefly  referred, 
called  the  Shing-yu,  or  “ Sacred  Edict or,  sometimes 
styled,  more  properly,  the  “Sacred  Instructions.”  It 
is  a collection  of  discourses  upon  practical  subjects,  each 
headed  by  a suitable  proverb  or  text.  They  are  sixteen 
in  nulnber,  each  a few  pages  in  length,  and  are  written 
in  a pleasing  and  intelligible  style.  They  have  exer- 
cised an  important  effect  upon  the  moral  character  of  the 
Chinese  people.  He  inculcates  industry  in  the  following 
style : 

“ Give,”  said  he,  “ the  chief  place  to  husbandry  and 
the  culture  of  the  mulberry  tree,  in  order  to  procure  ade- 
quate supplies  of  food  and  raiment.  Of  old  time  the 
emperors  themselves  ploughed,  and  their  empresses  culti- 
vated the  mulberry-tree ; though  supremely  honorable, 
they  disdained  not  to  labor;  and  they  did  this,  in 


THE  MANCHU  DYXASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS. 


275 


order  to  excite  by  tbeir  example  tlie  millions  of  tbe 
people.  Suffer  not  a barren  spot  to  remain  a wilderness, 
or  a lazy  person  to  abide  in  tbe  cities.  Then  the  farmer 
will  not  lay  aside  his  plough  and  his  hoe,  or  the  housewife 
put  away  her  silkworms  and  her  weaving.  Even  the 
productions  of  the  mountains  and  marshes,  and  the 
propagation  of  the  breed  of  poultry,  swine  and  dogs, 
will  all  be  regularly  cherished,  in  order  that  food  may 
be  supplied  in  their  season  to  make  up  for  any  deficiency 
of  agriculture.”  Kang-hi,  among  his  sixteen  maxims, 
also  insists  on  the  necessity  of  magnifying  academical 
learning,  and  of  providing  amply  for  district  colleges, 
academies  and  schools  for  the  common  people.  No  one 
was  to  be  left  uninstructed — no  school  was  to  be  left  in 
poverty  and  neglect.  Such  was  his  desire  and  effort 
also.  Yet  the  end  has  never  been  attained.  At  present, 
though  the  schools,  both  public  and  private,  are  rather 
numerous,  they  are  generally  poor.  The  emperor,  in 
the  strongest  terms,  denounced  idolatries,  and  called  the 
god  Buddha  an  avaricious,  unfilial  scoundrel.  But  if 
he  hated  all  manner  of  idol-worshipings,  or  what  he 
called  “ new  religions,”  Kang-hi  himself  did  not  adopt 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  taught  by  the  European 
missionaries.  “ Even  this  sect,”  said  he,  “ who  talk 
about  heaven  and  prate  about  earth  and  of  things  with- 
out shadow  and  without  substance — their  religion,  also, 
is  unsound  and  corrupt.  But  because  the  teachers  of 
this  sect  understand  astronomy  and  are  skilled  in  mathe- 
matics, the  government  employs  them  to  correct  the 
calendar.  This,  however,  by  no  means  implies  that  their 
religion  is  a good  one.  You  should  not  on  any  account 
believe  them.  The  law  is  very  rigorous  against  these 


276  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

left-hand-road  and  side-door  sects.  Their  punishment 
is  determined  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  the  masters 
and  mistresses  of  your  dancing  gods  or  your  male  and 
female  conjurors.”  He  founded  all  religion  on  the  du- 
ties of  children  to  their  parents.  According  to  the  em- 
peror’s system,  every  family  had  two  living  divinities — 
father  and  mother — and  therefore  it  was  unnecessary  to 
go  in  quest  of  other  gods  or  to  worship  on  the  hills,  or  to 
travel  far  to  burn  incense,  or  to  pray  to  idols  or  to  gods 
for  happiness.  In  his  wisdom  he  decreed  that  robbery 
and  theft  should  be  for  ever  extirpated ; yet  theft,  rob- 
bery, jnracy  and  murder  appear  to  have  multiplied 
in  each  successive  feign. 

The  Sacred  Instructions  were  amplified  by  Ivang- 
hi’s  son  and  successor,  Yung-ching,  who  by  statute  en- 
joined that  they  should  be  proclaimed  with  great  form  and 
ceremony  throughout  the  empire  on  the  first  and  fifteenth 
of  every  month.  Before  the  commencement  of  the  read- 
ing all  present  performed  the  ko-tau. 

Kang-hi  endeavored,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Jesuits, 
to  make  some  improvements  in  the  arts  and  sciences  of 
China,  especially  in  that  of  medicine,  which  has  always 
been  in  a most  deficient  state.  But  the  prejudices  of  the 
Chinese  with  regard  to  the  dissection  of  human  bodies  is 
so  strong  that  although  several  books  on  the  subject  of 
anatomy  were  published  under  the  patronage  of  that 
enlightened  emperor,  the  study  was  never  prosecuted  to 
any  advantage ; and  so  little  is  yet  understood  of  the 
medical  art  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  Chinese  peo- 
ple put  more  faith  in  spells  and  charms  than  in  any 
remedies  derived  from  professional  science,  and  place 
very  little  reliance  on  the  efficacy  of  a medicine  unless  it 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  277 


be  taken  on  a lucky  day.  Kang-hi  died  in  the  year 
1722,  having  ruled  over  the  Chinese  empire  sixty-one 
years — the  longest  reign  recorded  in  the  history  of  China 
since  the  patriarchal  times. 

The  sovereign  power  had  never  been  greater  or  more 
absolute  than  during  this  period,  nor  had  it  ever  been 
equaled  except  while  the  sceptre  was  swayed  by  the 
powerful  hand  of  Ivublai  Khan.  Besides  extending  his 
dominions  by  his  conquests  over  the  Eleutlis,  Kang-hi 
obliged  the  Mongols  to  remove  three  hundred  miles  be- 
yond the  Great  Wall,  where  he  gave  them  lands  and 
pastures,  while  he  settled  his  own  subjects  of  the  Manchu 
race  in  the  provinces  they  had  vacated,  thus  uniting  to 
China  a large  extent  of  territory  without  the  interven- 
tion of  a foreign  nation.  The  Mongols,  however,  are 
still  a constant  source  of  uneasiness  to  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment, and  are  watched  with  the  utmost  jealousy  by 
the  Manchus,  whom  it  is  well  known  they  heartily  de- 
test as  the  usurpers  of  that  empire  once  so  gloriously 
ruled  by  their  own  princes.  These  tribes  until  the  pres- 
ent time  range  over  the  vast  territories  to  the  north-west 
of  China  Proper.  They  have  no  cities,  but  dwell  in 
tents,  some  of  which  are  as  richly  furnished  as  the  halls 
of  a palace,  the  floors  being  covered  with  Turkey  or 
Persian  carpets,  the  sides  adorned  with  silken  hangings, 
and  every  other  article  for  domestic  use  being  of  a costly 
and  luxurious  description,  and  obtained  in  exchange  for 
valuable  furs  from  the  Chinese.  The  Mongols  are  great 
hunters,  and  thus  procure  the  skins  of  various  animals 
that  are  highly  prized.  They  are  all  trained  to  arms, 
and  are  also  addicted  to  horse-racing,  wrestling  and  other 
athletic  sports.  Their  ordinary  costume  is  a long  dark- 


278 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


blue  robe,  fastened  round  the  waist  with  a leather  belt  ; 
under-garments  of  cotton,  leather  boots  and  a cap  of 
cloth  or  fur,  according  to  the  season.  Their  princes  at- 
tend as  vassals  at  the  imperial  court,  and  very  often  marry 
the  daughters  of  the  emperor,  who  is  not  unwilling  to 
promote  such  alliances  as  a means  of  securing  their  fidel- 
ity. With  the  same  view  he  sends  rich  presents  to  them 
every  year,  except  when  any  signs  of  rebellion  appear, 
in  which  case  the  gifts  are  withheld  until  submission  has 
been  made  and  the  disaffected  have  returned  to  their 
allegiance.  Their  lands  are  held  in  fief  and  descend  to 
the  eldest  son,  who  cannot  take  possession  until  he  has 
received  his  investiture  from  the  emperor — another  means 
of  keeping  them  in  subjection. 

It  was  during  the  long  reign  of  Kang-hi  that  the 
English  really  obtained  a footing  in  the  empire.  In  the 
year  1664,  in  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  a single  English 
ship  had  been  sent  to  Macao,  but  such  were  the  exactions 
imposed  by  the  Chinese,  and  such  was  the  effect  of  the 
malicious  misrepresentations  of  the  Portuguese,  that  the 
vessel  was  obliged  to  return  without  effecting  sale  or 
purchasing  cargo.  It  is  at  this  period  that  we  first  find 
mention  made  of  tea  as  a commodity  abounding  in  China, 
and  very  proper  to  be  imported  into  England.  English 
ships  were  again  sent  out  in  1668,  which  opened  a little 
trade  at  Formosa  (then  independent  of  the  Manchus) 
and  at  Amoy.  The  fact  of  this  brief  traffic  at  Amoy  is 
stamped  upon  our  language  in  the  permanent  use  of  the 
word  tea  to  designate  the  shrub,  which  is  its  name  in  the 
dialect  of  that  vicinity ; the  proper  name,  in  the  court, 
the  Canton  and  other  more  important  dialects,  is  cha  (or 
chah).  In  1681  the  East  India  Company  ordered  their 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  279 

small  establishments  at  Formosa  and  Amoy  to  be  with- 
drawn, and  that,  if  found  possible,  a trade  should  be 
established  at  Canton.  They  found  the  Manchu  Tartars 
far  more  disinclined  to  trade  and  to  any  intercourse  with 
them  than  the  Chinese  had  been  just  before  their  con- 
quest. These  Tartars,  in  fact,  appear  to  have  been  beset 
by  the  apprehension  that  the  daring  English  mariners 
and  adventurers  would  join  the  Chinese  and  help  them 
to  throw  off  the  Manchu  yoke.  In  1689  the  crew  of  an 
English  ship,  named  the  Defence,  became  involved  in 
a quarrel  with  the  natives,  killed  a Chinese  and  wounded 
two  or  three  others.  The  Chinese,  far  outnumbering 
them,  killed  the  surgeon  of  the  ship  and  several  seamen. 
But  this  was  not  admitted  in  extenuation  by  the  author- 
ities, and  the  vessel  was  obliged  to  go  away  without  any 
cargo.  By  this  time,  however,  tea  was  in  so  great  a de- 
mand in  England  that  it  must  be  procured  at  any  cost. 
The  efforts  of  the  East  India  Company  were  therefore 
renewed,  and  finally,  in  the  year  1699,  in  the  time  of 
"William  III.,  they  were  allowed  to  have  a factory  at 
Canton,  and  a royal  consul’s  commission  was  sent  out  to 
the  chief  of  the  company’s  council  there.  In  spite  of 
obstructions,  interruptions  and  many  serious  grievances 
suffered  at  Canton,  the  Chinese  trade  has  increased  from 
this  date,  or  from  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  But  for  tea  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Eng- 
land would  ever  have  opened  the  trade  at  all. 

Two  hundred  years  ago  the  use  of  tea  was  unknown 
in  England,  but  since  that  period  it  has  been  imported 
to  an  extent  that  has  changed  the  habits  and  worked  a 
domestic  revolution,  not  only  in  that  country,  but  in 
many  parts  of  continental  Europe.  The  gratification 


280 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  the  taste  thus  acquired,  the  absolute  indispensable- 
ness of 

/‘The  cup  which  cheers  and  not  inebriates,” 

has  made  that  nation  and  our  own  dependent  on  China  for 
much  of  the  comfort  of  a large  portion  of  every  class  of 
society.  Perhaps  the  poorest  of  all  are  those  who  most 
of  all  are  benefited  and  comforted  by  the  introduction 
and  extended  use  of  tea.  But  it  has  become,  in  a man- 
ner, an  article  of  necessity  to  the  entire  population. 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  maids  of  honor  drank  strong 
ale  at  their  breakfast — the  poorest  washerwoman  now-a- 
days  would  not  take  such  a beverage  when  she  can 
obtain  her  refreshing  cup  of  tea.  That  the  use  of  the 
fragrant  herb,  besides  being  a source  of  riches  to  indi- 
viduals and  of  immense  revenue  to  the  state,  has  been 
highly  beneficial  in  improving  the  moral  character  and 
promoting  the  domestic  comfort  of  the  people  themselves 
cannot  for  one  moment  be  called  in  question. 

Under  the  same  great  emperor,  Kang-lii,  the  Dutch 
sent  another  embassy  to  Peking,  which  was  headed  by 
Van  Hoorn,  a phlegmatic  man,  who  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  submit  to  any  indignity  that  the  Tartars  might 
be  pleased  to  put  upon  him.  He  and  his  suite  performed 
the  ko-tau  over  and  over  again,  not  in  the  emperor’s 
presence,  but  before  an  empty  throne ; and  having,  by 
their  performance  of  these  prostrations,  caused  their 
nation  to  be  enrolled  among  the  tributaries  of  the  em- 
pire, they  were  dismissed  as  loyal  subjects,  but  without 
any  benefit  to  their  commerce  or  any  favor  or  considera- 
tion whatsoever.  This  precedent  was  highly  injurious 
to  the  character  and  dignity  of  the  nations  of  the  West, 
and  to  the  cause  of  European  intercourse  and  connec- 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  281 


tion.  For  a hundred  and  thirty  years  the  Dutch  sent 
no  more  embassies  to  Peking,  but  they  were  allowed  to 
carry  on  a trade  at  Canton  on  the  same  footing  as  the 
English. 

The  Russians  watched  with  jealousy  the  advances  of 
Western  powers  toward  intimacy  with  an  empire  in  so 
close  proximity  to  their  own,  and  upon  whose  colonial 
possessions  they  already  began  to  cast  a covetous  eye. 
Peter  the  Great  of  Russia  sent  overland  two  more  mis- 
sions to  China  at  this  period.  Ysbrandt  Ides  started 
from  Moscow  to  Peking  in  1698.  His  journey  across 
the  wilds  and  wastes  of  Central  Asia  took  up  more  time 
than  a voyage  by  sea,  for  it  was  not  till  a year  and  eight 
months  had  passed  that  “ he  could  return  thanks  to  the 
great  God  who  had  conducted  them  all  safe  and  well  to 
their  destined  place.”  Ides  found  it  very  awkward  to 
eat,  not  with  knives  and  forks,  but  with  little  ivory 
sticks  (chopsticks)  ; but  his  palate  was  particularly 
gratified  by  the  soups,  of  which  the  chief  ingredient 
was  a green  glutinous  substance,  said  to  be  an  herb 
found  at  a distance  on  rocks  in  the  sea ; in  fact,  it  was 
the  edible  birds’  nests,  which  form  one  of  the  favorite 
luxuries  in  China,  though  not  produced  in  that  country. 
At  his  first  Chinese  entertainment,  while  they  were  yet 
at  table,  a person  came  in,  and  on  his  knees  presented  to 
the  principal  officer  a list  of  plays,  out  of  which  he 
selected  one,  the  performance  of  which  was  immediately 
commenced.  The  prologue  was  spoken  by  a lady,  who, 
in  the  eyes  of  our  Russian  envoy,  appeared  to  be  very 
beautiful  and  most  magnificently  attired  in  cloth  of  gold 
adorned  with  jewels.  The  acting  then  began,  and  Ides 
thought  it  very  entertaining  and  equal  to  anything  he 


282 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


had  seen  in  Europe.  It  has  been  remarked  that  the 
czar’s  envoy  had  probably  never  witnessed  at  Moscow 
any  high  displays  of  the  dramatic  art ; but  it  appears 
that  Ides  had  been  a traveler  before  he  came  to  the 
Great  Wall,  and  that  he  had  seen  dramatic  entertain- 
ments in  Germany,  if  not  in  France.  His  own  account 
of  his  mission  contains  but  slight  notices  regarding  its 
object,  though  it  gives  considerable  information  con- 
cerning the  parts  of  China  through  which  they  trav- 
eled. He  particularly  mentions  the  interest  of  the  mass 
of  the  people  in  the  Buddhist  idolatry ; the  astonishing 
populousness,  order  and  tranquillity  of  the  country,  and 
the  spacious  road,  bordered  by  magnificent  seats  and 
gardens,  which  leads  to  Peking.  At  court,  Gerbillon,  a 
French  missionary,  and  Thomas,  a Portuguese  mission- 
ary, who  spoke  Italian,  acted  as  his  interpreters.  Busi- 
ness or  talk  being  over,  Ides  was  amused  by  more  plays, 
and  by  dances  and  juggling  tricks.  What  amused  him 
most  was  a company  of  elephants,  which  had  been 
trained  to  assume  every  imaginable  posture  and  to  imi- 
tate every  sound,  from  the  blast  of  the  trumpet,  the  roar 
of  the  tiger  and  the  low  of  the  ox,  down  to  the  clear, 
shrill  note  of  the  canary  bird.  The  Jesuits,  then  in 
high  favor,  showed  their  spacious  cloisters  enclosed  with 
high  walls,  their  church  elegantly  built,  richly  adorned 
with  altars  and  images,  and  capable  of  containing  two 
- or  three  thousand  persons.  They  had  also  two  globes, 
six  feet  in  diameter,  and  a museum  of  European  curi- 
osities, in  which  their  Chinese  visitors  seemed  to  take 
great  interest.  It  is  understood  that  Ides  made  arrange- 
ments by  which  Russian  caravans,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  Chinese  government,  were  to  visit 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  283 


Peking  at  regular  intervals.  But  the  subjects  of  the 
czar  were  found  to  be  much  addicted  to  strong  potations, 
and  to  be  very  quarrelsome  when  in  their  cups;  and  this 
induced  Kang-hi  to  threaten  the  entire  discontinuance 
of  the  intercourse.  To  avert  the  evil,  Peter  the  Great,  in 
1719  (during  the  last  years  of  the  long  reign  of  Kang-hi), 
despatched  an  embassy  under  Leoff  Yassilovich  Ismay- 
loff,  “a  gentleman  of  a family  very  well  known  and 
much  respected  in  Russia,  and  a captain  of  the  guards.” 
This  deserving  Muscovite  had  in  his  suite  a Scotchman, 
“honest  John  Bell  of  Antermony,”  who  wrote  a most 
interesting  and  truthful,  as  well  as  minute,  account  of 
the  overland  journeys  and  the  doings  of  the  mission. 
These  gentlemen,  on  the  5th  of  December,  arrived  at 
the  famous  Great  Wall,  which  filled  them  with  astonish- 
ment. “The  Chinese  commonly  call  it,  for  its  length, 
the  Endless  Wall.  The  appearance  of  it,  running  from 
one  high  rock  to  another,  with  square  towers  at  certain 
intervals,  even  at  a distance  is  most  magnificent.”1  They 
entered  at  a great  gate,  which  was  closed  every  night, 
and  always  guarded  by  a thousand  men  under  the  com- 
mand of  two  officers  of  rank,  one  a Chinese  and  the 
other  a Manchu  Tartar ; “ for  it  is  an  established  custom 
in  China,  and  has  prevailed  ever  since  the  conquest  of 
the  Tartars,  that  in  all  places  of  public  trust  there  must 
be  a Chinese  and  a Tartar  invested  with  equal  power ; 
this  rule  is  observed  both  in  civil  and  military  affairs, 
the  Chinese  pretending  that  two  in  an  office  are  a sort 
of  spies  upon  one  another’s  actions,  and  that  thereby 
many  fraudulent  practices  are  either  prevented  or  de- 
tected.” '• 

1 Eell’s  Travels  from  Petersburg,  in  Russia,  to  divers  parts  of  Asia. 


284 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


From  the  Great  Wall  they  proceeded  to  Peking  by 
nearly  the  same  route  as  the  former  mission  under  Ides. 
Their  unhappiness  began  with  their  arrival  at  the  capi- 
tal. They  wanted  to  escape  the  humiliation  of  the  ko- 
tau,  hut  on  this  point  the  court  was  inexorable.  Ismay- 
loff,  however,  refused  to  prostrate  himself  until  it  was 
agreed  that  a Chinese  ambassador,  whenever  sent  to 
Petersburg,  should  conform  to  the  usages  of  the  Rus- 
sians. This,  as  it  has  been  observed,  was  certainly  a 
safe  stipulation  to  be  made  by  a pourt  which,  till  very 
recently,  never  condescended  to  send  missions  to  any 
countries  of  the  West.  For  their  audience  the  Rus- 
sians were  conducted  to  a country  palace,  six  miles 
westward  of  Peking.  There,  at  the  end  of  a noble 
avenue  of  trees,  they  found  the  hall  of  audience.  After 
having  kept  them  waiting  a quarter  of  an  hour,  the 
emperor  came  in  at  a back  door,  and  seated  himself 
upon  a throne,  whereat  all  the  company  stood  up. 
Then  the  master  of  the  ceremonies  desired  the  ambassa- 
dor to  advance,  and  conducted  him  by  one  hand,  while 
he  held  his  credentials  in  the  other.  Having  ascended 
a few  steps,  the  letter  was  laid  on  a table  placed  for  that 
purpose,  but  the  emperor  beckoned  to  the  ambassador, 
inviting  him  to  draw  nearer.  Ismayloff  took  up  the  cre- 
dentials, and,  attended  by  a Chinese  officer,  walked  up  to 
the  throne,  and  kneeling,  laid  them  before  the  emperor, 
who  touched  them  with  his  hand  and  inquired  after 
his  majesty  the  czar’s  health.  Honest  John  Bell  con- 
tinues : “ During  this  part  of  the  ceremony,  which  was 
not  long,  the  retinue  continued  standing  without  the 
hall ; and  we  imagined,  the  letter  being  delivered,  all 
was  over.  But  the  master  of  the  ceremonies  brought 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  285 


back  the  ambassador,  and  then  ordered  all  the  company 
to  kneel  and  make  obeisance  nine  times  to  the  emperor. 
At  every  third  time  we  stood  up,  and  kneeled  on  the 
ground  again.  Great  pains  were  taken  to  avoid  this 
painful  piece  of  homage,  but  without  success.  The  mas- 
ter of  the  ceremonies  stood  by,  and  delivered  his  orders 
in  the  Tartar  language,  by  pronouncing  the  words  morgu 
(down)  and  boss  (up) ; two  words  which  I cannot  soon 
forget.”  In  the  afternoon,  after  the  audience,  they  were 
feasted  in  the  palace  and  entertained  with  music,  dan- 
cing, tumbling  and  wrestling.  Here  the  emperor  was 
condescending  and  familiar,  asking  the  ambassador 
many  questions.  Ismayloff  had  a good  many  more 
audiences,  which  were  conducted  with  very  little  form 
or  ceremony.  The  evident  desirableness  of  keeping  on 
good  terms  with  the  Russians,  whose  power  was  rapidly 
increasing  and  whose  advanced  frontier  already  pressed 
on  the  borders  of  their  own  empire,  led  the  Chinese  to 
treat  their  envoys  with  unusual  respect,  and  to  attend  to 
the  business  they  came  to  settle.  The  Russian  trade, 
however,  was  restricted  to  the  frontier  stations  of  Kiaklita 
and  Mai-mai-cliin,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  by 
the  two  powers  to  manage  its  details.  The  Russian 
caravans  were  no  longer  to  be  allowed  to  proceed  to 
Peking,  nor  were  any  subjects  of  the  czar  to  approach 
that  capital.  In  1727-8  a third  mission  was  sent  across 
the  desert,  under  Count  Vladislavitch,  to  obtain  more 
favorable  terms.  The  great  Kang-hi  was  by  this  time 
in  his  grave,  but  his  son  and  successor  gave  the  ambas- 
sador a favorable  reception.  It  was  agreed  that  a sort 
of  Russian  college,  consisting  of  six  ecclesiastical  and 
four  lay  members,  should  remain  at  Peking  to  study  the 


286 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chinese  and  Mancliu  languages,  in  order  that  good  in- 
terpreters might  be  prepared  and  communications  carried 
on  more  satisfactorily.  The  college,  which  still  exists  at 
Peking,  was  to  be  maintained  at  the  joint  expense  of  the 
Chinese  and  Russian  governments.  The  members  of  the 
college  were  to  be  changed  every  ten  years,  but  it  is  said 
that  the  czar  often  neglects  to  relieve  them  at  the  proper 
time,  and  that  the  members  have  occasionally  been  left 
there  fifteen  or  even  twenty  years.  The  narrative  of 
George  Timkowski,  who  conducted  tfie  relief  party  sent 
in  1821,  gives  an  account  of  his  trip  from  Kiakhta  across 
the  desert,  together  with  considerable  information  relat- 
ing to  the  Kalkas  and  other  Mongol  tribes  subject  to 
China.  His  observations,  illustrated  by  the  learned 
notes  and  comments  of  Klaproth,  have  added  consider- 
ably to  our  knowledge  of  this  remarkable  empire.  The 
archimandrite,  Batchourin,  has  written  a description  of 
Peking ; but  such  works  as  the  members  of  the  Russian 
college  have  produced  are,  for  the  most  part,  still  in 
their  difficult  language.  Hitherto,  the  Russians  have 
been  much  less  given  to  authorship  or  to  publication 
than  travelers  of  other  European  nations ; but  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  archives  of  the  public  offices  at 
Moscow  and  Petersburg  contain  a vast  deal  of  in- 
formation respecting  the  Celestial  Empire  and  its  de- 
pendencies. 

It  has  frequently  been  remarked  by  travelers  that  the 
tea  brought  overland  by  the  Russians  is  superior  in 
quality  to  the  article  which  we  receive  by  sea.  Some 
say  that  the  tea  of  the  Russians  is  produced  by  better 
districts  than  those  which  supply  us,  while  others  attrib- 
ute the  difference  to  its  being  carried  by  land,  and  not 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  287 

exposed  to  the  deteriorating  effects  of  a sea  voyage. 
Erman,  however,  gives  a very  different  account  of  this 
famous  tea.  He  says : “ This  article  is  a mixture  of  the 
spoiled  leaves  and  stalks  of  the  tea-plant,  with  the  leaves 
of  some  wild  plant  and  bullock’s  blood  dried  in  the  oven. 
In  Irkutsk,  where  an  imitation  of  it  has  been  attempted, 
elm  leaves,  sloe  leaves  and  some  others,  have  been  sub- 
stituted with  tolerable  success  for  those  of  the  wild  plants 
of  China.” 

Some  time  before  his  death  Kang-hi  had  nominated 
as  his  successor  his  fourth  son,  Yung-cliing,  who  was 
installed  (in  the  year  1722)  with  great  pomp. 

• The  ceremony  of  the  installation,  which  is  equivalent 
to  a coronation,  takes  place  in  the  great  hall  of  the  palace, 
which  is  decorated  with  the  splendor  always  displayed 
by  the  Chinese  on  state  occasions.  This  ceremony  con- 
sists in  the  act  of  homage  performed  by  the  princes  and 
grandees  of  the  empire  there  assembled,  who  acknowledge 
with  certain  forms  the  right  of  the  new  monarch  to  as- 
cend the  throne,  and  make  the  nine  prostrations  before 
him.  In  former  times,  if  the  successor  were  the  son  of 
the  deceased  sovereign,  the  government  was  left  during 
the  period  of  mourning  to  the  care  of  the  ministers,  while 
the  prince  remained  in  the  deepest  seclusion,  even  shut- 
ting himself  up  within  the  tomb,  or  causing  a hut  to  be 
erected  near  it,  where  he  would  spend  months  in  the  in- 
dulgence of  his  sorrow.  But  this  custom  has  not  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  Tartar  rulers,  who  appear  to  be  fully  aware 
of  the  impolicy  of  leaving  the  management  of  the  state 
to  others,  and  therefore  profess  to  respect  the  ancient 
practice,  while  at  the  same  time  they  evade  its  perform- 
ance, by  pretending  that  their  own  inclinations  have  been 


288 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


overruled  by  a consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  enthronement  of  an  empress  is  worthy  of 
notice  as  an  illustration  of  the  greater  respect  accorded 
in  China  to  woman  compared  with  what  she  receives  in 
most  other  heathen  countries.  Yet  as  polygamy  is  tole- 
rated, one  or  more  of  the  secondary  wives  often  receives 
high  marks  of  imperial  favor,  particularly  the  mother 
of  a prince  who  may  be  selected  (for  the  succession  is 
not  governed  by  primogeniture)  to  be  the  heir  to  the 
throne.  And  the  proper  empress,  or  wife  of  the  empe- 
ror, must  defer  to  his  mother  if  living.  The  mother 
holds  the  first  rank  among  the  females  of  the  empire. 

The  name  of  Yung-ching  signifies  “First  in  concord,” 
but  the  title  does  not  seem  very  appropriate  to  the 
prince  who  assumed  it.  His  reign  was  remarkable  for 
little  else  than  for  his  severe  persecution  of  the  Roman 
priests,  whose  proselytes  had  greatly  increased,  and  who 
had  certainly  rendered  themselves  exceedingly  obnoxious 
by  their  political  intrigues  and  imprudent  conduct.  The 
Jesuits  were  banished  from  the  court,  the  churches  either 
destroyed  or  converted  into  heathen  temples,  and  all 
Christian  missionaries  ordered  to  leave  the  country  as 
persons  dangerous  to  the  government.  Even  his  own 
relatives,  those  princes  who,  in  the  time  of  Kang-hi, 
had  embraced  Christianity  and  been  allowed  by  that 
liberal-minded  monarch  to  have  a church  for  the  exer- 
cise of  their  worship,  were  involved  in  the  general  fate 
of  the  converts,  and  sent  as  exiles,  with  their  wives  and 
families,  to  the  dreary  deserts  of  Tartary.  The  banish- 
ment of  the  Jesuits  put  a full  stop  to  the  progress  of 
their  religion  and  also  of  Western  science ; and  in  China 
the  succeeding  emperors  have  neither  tolerated  the 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  289 


Christian  religion  nor  given  any  encouragement  to  the 
introduction  of  our  improvements. 

In  every  respect,  except  his  enmity  to  the  Christian 
religion,  Yung-ching  is  spoken  of  as  a mild  and  benef- 
icent sovereign,  anxious  to  do  good  and  extremely  cha- 
ritable in  seasons  of  public  calamity,  such  as  failure  of 
the  crops  or  earthquakes,  which  latter  are  not  unfrequent 
in  China.  The  province  of  Chih-li  (or  Pe-che-lee)  is 
particularly  liable  to  these  awful  visitations,  which  were 
severely  felt  at  Peking  twice  during  the  reign  of  Kang- 
hi,  who  is  much  and  deservedly  praised  for  his  humanity 
to  the  sufferers ; nor  was  Yung-ching  less  benevolent  on 
the  occasion  of  a similar  calamity  which  occurred  in 
1730,  when  many  houses  and  temples  were,  thrown  down 
in  the  capital  and  a great  number  of  lives  lost.  Large 
sums  of  money  were  distributed,  by  order  of  the  em- 
peror, to  repair  the  damage;  and  those  families  who 
were  reduced  by  the  destruction  of  their  shops  and  goods 
to  temporary  distress  were  relieved  and  supported  at  the 
expense  of  the  government  until  their  houses  had  been 
rebuilt  and  their  trade  had  recommenced.  In  1725  a 
terrible  famine  afflicted  the  land,  when  the  public  grana- 
ries in  every  province  were  opened  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  the  people  with  corn  and  rice  at  a small  price ; 
and  the  emperor,  according  to  established  custom,  made 
solemn  sacrifices  in  the  Temple  of  the  Earth,  released 
numbers  of  prisoners  who  were  confined  in  the  dungeons 
of  the  capital,  and  performed  other  acts  of  propitiation 
of  the  gods,  hoping  thereby  to  avert  the  calamity. 

The  care  that  is  taken  to  make  a provision  for  the 
poor  in  time  of  need,  by  laying  up  stores  of  grain  in 
every  province,  constitutes  a main  feature  of  the  Chinese 

19 


290  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

policy ; and,  according  to  the  ancient  laws,  is  one  of  the 
chief  duties  of  the  sovereign,  who  is  enjoined  by  Con- 
fucius, the  revered  instructor  both  of  the  prince  and 
his  people,  to  take  care  that  the  lands  are  cultivated  so 
as  to  produce  the  necessaries  of  life  for  all ; to  attend  to 
the  fisheries  and  planting  of  trees ; to  be  moderate  in 
imposing  taxes ; to  see  that  the  means  of  instruction  are 
furnished  for  every  class ; but,  above  all,  to  assist  the 
people  in  times  of  scarcity,  as  a father  would  provide 
for  the  wants  of  his  children.  Yung-ching  revived  an 
old  custom  that  had  fallen  into  disuse,  of  inviting  to  a 
feast  all  persons  eminent  for  their  virtues.  In  his  reign 
also  many  officers  who  had  conducted  themselves  well 
in  an  inferior  station  were  promoted  to  a higher  rank. 
He  encouraged  agriculture  by  bestowing  rewards  on  the 
most  diligent  laborers,  and  he  brought  under  cultivation 
new  lands  at  the  extremity  of  the  hilly  province  of 
Yun-nan,  where  he  settled  colonies  and  conferred 
honors  on  those  who  had  exerted  themselves  to  improve 
the  country.  He  modified  the  restrictive  laws  with  re- 
gard to  emigration,  allowing  the  inhabitants  of  the  mari- 
time provinces  to  repair  to  Siam,  Malacca  and  the  neigh- 
boring islands ; on  condition,  however,  that  they  should 
return  to  their  native  country — a stipulation  that  was 
perfectly  in  unison  with  their  own  feelings,  which  would 
lead  them,  even  without  such  an  injunction,  to  end  their 
days  in  the  place  of  their  birth,  that  they  might  be  en- 
tombed among  their  ancestors.  During  this  reign  the 
Russians  fully  established  their  trading-station  on  the 
banks  of  a small  stream  in  Tartary,  called  the  Kiakhta, 
which  is  about  a thousand  miles  from  Peking  and  more 
than  three  times  that  distance  from  Moscow.  On  each 


THE  MANCIIU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  291 


side  of  this  stream  was  erected  a small  town,  or  rather 
village,  with  a fort  garrisoned  by  a few  soldiers — that  of 
the  Russians  being  called  Kiakhta,  that  of  the  Chinese 
Mai-mai-chin,  which  means  the  “depot  of  commerce.” 
The  Chinese  residents  in  Mai-mai-chin  were  agents  em- 
ployed by  the  merchants  of  great  manufacturing  cities 
to  carry  thither  such  goods  as  were  likely  to  be  market- 
able, as  silks,  both  raw  and  manufactured,  tea,  porcelain, 
japanned  ware,  tobacco,  rice,  pearls,  precious  stones, 
spices,  and  those  elegant  toys  of  carved  ivory  for  which 
the  Chinese  are  so  famous.  They  exchanged  these  arti- 
cles with  the  Russians  for  rich  furs,  woolen  cloth,  linen, 
leather,  tallow,  glass  and  cutlery.  The  Chinese  were 
not  permitted  to  take  their  wives  with  them,  nor  could 
the  Russians  take  theirs,  on  account  of  the  length  and 
difficulties  of  the  journey ; so  that  there  were  no  women 
in  the  place,  which  must  have  been  dull  enough  for 
those  who  were  obliged  to  remain  there  a whole  year, 
the  term  specified  for  the  residence  of  the  Chinese 
traders,  who  at  the  end  of  that  time  returned  to  their 
homes,  when  others  were  sent  out  to  replace  them  with  a 
fresh  assortment  of  goods. 

During  the  whole  of  this  reign  the  British  merchants 
of  the  East  India  Company  trading  to  China  were  so 
much  oppressed  by  the  heavy  duties  imposed  by  the 
government,  and  the  extortions  privately  practiced  by 
its  officers,  that,  although  the  commerce  was  never 
entirely  stopped,  it  was  very  often  interrupted. 

Yung-ching  died  in  1735,  having  reigned  about  four- 
teen years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  the  war- 
like and  highly  talented  Kien-lung. 

The  paternal  character  of  the  government  of  China 


292 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


is  illustrated  by  tbe  ceremonies  following  tbe  death  of 
an  emperor.  A public  mourning  is  then  observed  with 
the  deepest  solemnities  throughout  the  whole  country ; 
for  it  is  not,  as  in  Europe,  optional  to  put  on  the  out- 
ward symbols  of  sorrow,  but  the  whole  nation  is  bound, 
both  by  law  and  custom,  to  exhibit  the  same  tokens  of 
grief  for  the  loss  of  him  who  is  in  a figurative  sense  the 
parent  of  every  individual  as  each  would  display  on  the 
death  of  his  own  father  or  mother.  On  the  death  of 
the  sovereign  despatches  announcing  the  event,  written 
in  blue  ink,  which  is  emblematic  of  a royal  demise,  are 
immediately  forwarded  to  all  the  provinces.  The  Board 
of  Bites  then  issues  directions  for  the  mourning,  when 
the  many  millions  of  human  beings  that  constitute  the 
population  of  China  clothe  themselves  in  coarse  sack- 
cloth or  white  serge,  lay  aside  every  kind  of  ornament, 
and  refrain  from  all  festivities,  either  in  public  or  pri- 
vate. During  the  first  hundred  days  the  men  are 
obliged  to  leave  their  heads  and  beards  unshaven. 
Marriages  are  not  celebrated,  nor  are  any  sacrifices  per- 
formed in  the  temples.  Similar  ceremonies  are  observed 
at  the  death  of  an  empress-mother,  but  do  not  continue 
for  so  long  a period,  fifty  days  being  the  usual  time  of 
mourning  on  Such  an  occasion ; but  the  wives  of  the 
emperor  are  not  thus  publicly  honored  at  their  deaths, 
although  in  some  instances  the  officers  of  the  court 
have  been  ordered  to  take  the  balls  which  designate  their 
rank  from  the  tops  of  their  caps,  and  not  to  partake  of 
any  amusements  for  a certain  time. 

Kang-hi  had  raised  successively  three  princesses  to 
the  dignity  of  empress,  and  on  the  death  of  the  last,  to 
whom  he  had  been  exceedingly  attached,  he  commanded 


THE  MANCHU  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  293 


that  all  the  great  officers  of  state  should  go  in  turn  to 
weep  and  prostrate  themselves  before  the  coffin,  while 
he  shut  himself  up  alone  to  indulge  his  grief.  Being 
afterward  informed  that  four  of  the  gentlemen  of  the 
bed-chamber  had  been  seen  eating  and  laughing  together 
when  they  ought  to  have  been  sunk  in  sadness,  he  ban- 
ished them  from  the  court  and  deprived  their  fathers 
also  of  their  employments.  “ Is  it  to  be'  suffered,”  said 
he,  “ that  my  servants,  whom  I treat  with  indulgence 
and  honor,  should  be  so  little  touched  with  my  affliction 
as  to  make  merry  whilst  I am  overwhelmed  with 
sorrow  ?” 

The  funeral  processions  of  the  royal  family  are  very 
magnificent.  When  a favorite  brother  of  the  emperor 
Kang-hi  was  carried  to  the  place  of  interment,  no  less 
than  sixteen  thousand  persons  attended,  most  of  whom 
bore  ensigns  denoting  the  rank  of  the  deceased,  or  offer- 
ings to  be  burnt  at  his  tomb.  Trumpeters  and  mace- 
bearers,  umbrellas  and  canopies  of  cloth-of-gold,  stand- 
ards, camels  and  horses  laden  with  sacrifices,  the  coffin 
under  a large  yellow  canopy,  borne  by  eighty  men, 
princes,  princesses,  officers  and  priests,  made  up  the  great 
and  imposing  spectacle. 

The  reigning  family  have  some  very  magnificent 
places  of  sepulture,  one  of  which  is  in  Eastern  Tartary, 
near  the  city  of  Shin-yang,  four  or  five  hundred  miles 
to  the  north-east  of  Peking.  It  is  there  that  the  bodies 
of  Shun-chi  and  his  father,  the  great  conqueror  of  the 
Chinese,  are  entombed;  and  several  officers  of  the  Man- 
chu  race  reside  there  to  take  care  that  the  tombs  are 
kept  in  order  and  to  pay  the  customary  honors  and 
make  the  sepulchral  sacrifices  at  the  proper  seasons. 


294 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  tombs  are  built  of  white  marble,  in  the  Chinese 
style  of  architecture,  and  the  large  space  of  ground  on 
which  they  stand  is  surrounded  by  a thick  wall  with 
battlements,  as  though  the  builders  had  feared  that  the 
sacred  spot  would  have  need  of  defence.  The  Chinese 
generally,  whatever  their  rank,  make  as  much  display 
as  they  can  possibly  afford  in  their  funeral  rites.  The 
procession  is  usually  extended  to  a great  length  and 
preceded  by  solemn  music;  the  melancholy  tones  of  a 
sort  of  clarionet  being  accompanied  at  intervals  by  three 
strokes  of  the  drum.  White  standards  inscribed  with 
the  name  and  age  of  the  deceased  and  a vast  number 
of  white  lanterns  are  carried  in  the  train.  The  coffin 
is  surmounted  by  a canopy  and  followed  by  the  chief 
mourner,  dressed  in  a garment  of  sackcloth,  fastened 
round  his  waist  with  a cord,  and  a cap  of  the  same 
material  with  a white  bandage.  He  is  supported  by  his 
brothers  or  two  nearest  relatives;  after  whom  succeed, 
in  a numerous  procession,  the  friends  and  relatives,  all 
habited  in  coarse  white  cloth,  some  on  foot,  others  in 
sedan-chairs  covered  with  white  serge,  these  being  mostly 
the  females  of  the  family,  who  utter  loud  lamentations 
the  whole  way.  One  of  the  principal  objects  in  the 
procession  is  the  tablet,  which  is  sometimes  carried  in  a 
gilded  chair,  and  is  taken  back,  after  the  interment,  to 
be  placed  in  the  hall  of  ancestors.  At  the  side  of  the 
tomb  are  erected  temporary  buildings  of  mat  or  bam- 
boo, where  refreshments  are  laid  out  on  tables  by  the 
attendants  while  the  friends  are  making  the  sacrifices 
and  burning  incense  at  the  tomb.  If  the  deceased  has 
been  a gentleman  of  high  rank,  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
his  sons  to  remain  several  weeks  on  the  spot,  living  in 


THE  MANCHTJ  DYNASTY— FIRST  EMPERORS.  295 


bamboo  huts,  that  they  may  renew  their  expressions  of 
grief  and  make  new  offerings  each  day  to  the  manes  of 
the  departed,  and,  in  obedience  to  the  injunctions  of  the 
ancient  sages,  “ sleep  upon  straw  with  a sod  of  earth  for 
a pillow.” 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG. 

rjlHE  two  great  emperors  of  later  ages  in  China  were 
Kang-hi  and  Kien-lung.  Their  reigns  are  extraor- 
dinary in  history  for  having  covered  each  the  term  of 
sixty  years — that  of  the  former  indeed  was  extended  to 
sixty-one — and,  including  Yung-ching,  who  came  be- 
tween them,  the  father,  son  and  grandson  occupied  the 
throne  of  China  one  hundred  and  forty-six  years ! 
And  the  reigns  of  the  former  and  latter  were  as  pros- 
perous as  they  were  long.  Kang-hi  was  the  ablest  of 
the  two  and  the  more  accomplished.  His  eminent  liter- 
ary character,  and  his  solicitude  for  the  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement  of  his  people,  have  added  a special 
lustre  to  his  memory.  But  the  name  of  his  grandson 
will  ever  be  connected  with  his,  as  worthy  of  the  epithet 
“ great,”  in  the  history  of  this  dynasty. 

Kien-lung  succeeded  his  father  Yung-ching  in  the 
year  1735.  On  the  day  of  his  installation,  while  per- 
forming the  customary  rites  in  the  hall  of  imperial 
ancestors,  the  young  monarch  made  a vow  that,  “ should 
he,  like  his  illustrious  grandfather  Kang-hi,  be  per- 
mitted to  complete  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  reign,  he 
would  show  his  gratitude  to  heaven  by  resigning  the 
crown  to  his  heir,  as  an  acknowledgment  that  he  had 

296 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LTJNG.  297 

been  favored  to  tbe  full  extent  of  bis  wishes.”  The 
vow  was  made  in  all  sincerity,  and  the  noble  prince  was 
spared  to  fulfill  it.  Not  only  in  longevity,  but  also  in 
the  qualities  which  constitute  a great  ruler,  he  resem- 
bled his  grandfather  Ivang-hi.  He  encouraged  Chinese 
learning  by  cultivating  it  himself,  and  some  of  his  poeti- 
cal compositions  are  considered  to  possess  intrinsic  merit, 
independently  of  their  being  the  productions  of  an  em- 
peror. The  first  public  act  of  his  reign  was  to  recall 
from  exile  all  who  were  still  living  of  those  unhappy 
members  of  the  royal  race  who  had  been  banished  by 
his  predecessor  in  consequence^  of  their  attachment  to 
the  Christian  religion.  The  exiles  returned  in  a very 
destitute  condition,  for  all  their  property  had  been  con- 
fiscated to  the  state,  and  as  no  portion  of  it  had  been  re- 
stored, they  had  no  means  of  subsistence  but  small  pen- 
sions, to  which  they  were  entitled  as  princes  of  the  blood, 
and  which  were  wholly  inadequate  to  the  maintenance 
of  a family. 

It  is  a custom  of  long  standing  in  China  to  provide 
for  all  the  relatives  of  the  emperor  by  granting  them  pen-, 
sions  in  money,  silks  and  rice ; which  allowances  are  larger 
or  smaller  according  to  the  degree  of  affinity  in  which 
the  pensioners  stand  to  the  throne ; those  who  are  more 
than  five  degrees  removed  being  allowed  only  a bare  sub- 
sistence. These  princes,  who  are  very  numerous,  occupy 
a most  unfortunate  position  in  society;  for,  with  the 
exception  of  a few  of  the  highest  rank,  who  may  happen 
to  be  honored  with  the  emperor’s  especial  favor,  they 
are  of  necessity  an  idle,  useless  class  of  beings,  treated 
as  mere  appendages  to  the  court,  and  debarred  from 
those  opportunities  of  distinguishing  themselves  which 


298 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


are  freely  accorded  to  all  other  members  of  the  state. 
A prince  of  the  blood  is  excluded  from  holding  public 
employments  or  from  the  pursuit  of  any  occupation 
with  a view  to  emolument.  He  has  therefore  no  in- 
ducement to  give  much  of  his  attention  to  study,  since 
learning  does  not  procure  for  him  the  same  advantages 
that  are  derived  from  literary  attainments  by  men  of 
humbler  birth.  As  a body,  therefore,  the  princes  of  the 
empire  are  said  to  be  illiterate  men. 

There  are  two  branches  of  these  idlers — the  first  being 
descended  in  a direct  line  from  the  famous  Manchu  con- 
queror, Tien-ming;  tjje  second,  from  the  uncles  and 
brothers  of  that  great  hero.  The  former  take  preced- 
ence in  rank,  and  are  distinguished  by  a yellow  girdle ; 
while  the  latter,  being  more  distantly  allied  to  the  em- 
peror, are  only  permitted  to  wear  a red  girdle.  They 
are  all  obliged  to  live  within  the  precincts  of  the  court, 
to  attend  all  the  levees,  to  follow  in  the  train  of  the 
emperor  whenever  he  appears  abroad;  and  in  fact 
they  are  mere  puppets,  who  seem  to  exist  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  increase  the  pomp  of  the  imperial 
retinue. 

The  recall  of  the  exiles  gave  hopes  to  those  who 
were  interested  in  the  diffusion  of  Christianity  that  the 
emperor  was  inclined  to  countenance,  or  at  least  to  tol- 
erate, the  preaching  of  the  missionaries ; which  he  did 
for  some  time.  At  length,  however,  the  higher  officers 
of  the  court  presented  a memorial  on  the  subject  to 
the  emperor,  who  suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded, 
against  his  better  judgment,  not  to  afford  any  further 
protection  or  encouragement  to  the  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity. 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG. 


299 


The  powerful  order  of  Jesuits,  which  had  attained  to 
great  ascendency  in  the  East,  had  awakened  the  jeal- 
ousies and  odium  of  the  rival  monastic  orders  and  of 
nearly  every  king  or  government  in  Europe  that  re- 
mained within  the  pale  of  the  Romish  Church.  About 
the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Kien-lung,  or  more  toward 
its  close,  it  was  pursued,  as  one  which  was  decided  to  be 
irreconcilable  with  the  peace  of  the  nation,  with  unre- 
mitting hostility,  until  it  was  considered  to  be  entirely 
rooted  from  the  soil  of  China.  The  Jesuits  had  become 
rich  by  trade  as  well  as  by  the  contributions  of  their  fol- 
lowers. Their  extensive  property  was  seized  and  confis- 
cated. This  put  an  end  to  the  exertions  of  the  Jesuits 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Chinese. 

The  ambition  of  Kien-lung  was  gratified  by  some  im- 
portant conquests  in  Western  Tartary,  where  several 
Tartar  tribes  were  rendered  tributary  and  the  rich  city 
of  Kashgar  was  brought  under  his  dominion.  But  a 
later  attempt  which  he  made  to  subjugate  the  Bur  man 
empire  was  less  fortunate.  The  invading  army  com- 
menced hostilities  by  plundering  a town  and  mart, 
which  the  Chinese  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  fre- 
quenting with  goods  for  sale.  The  Burmese  monarch 
took  immediate  steps  to  repel  the  invasion  by  dividing 
his  forces  into  two  separate  bodies,  one  of  which  marched 
direct  toward  the  enemy,  while  the  other,  by  a circuitous 
route,  came  behind  them,  and  thus  cut  off  their  retreat. 
A terrible  conflict  took  place,  which  lasted  three  days, 
and  was  most  disastrous  to  the  Chinese,  who  were  hem- 
med in  on  all  sides ; so  that,  of  all  the  army  which  en- 
tered the  Burmese  territories,  not  one  man  returned  to 
tell  the  miserable  tale  of  their  defeat,  for  those  who 


300 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


escaped  the  sword  were  conducted  in  fetters  to  the  Bur- 
mese capital,  where  they  were  made  government  slaves, 
according  to  the  custom  of  that  country.  Those  who 
understood  any  trade  were  obliged  to  practice  it; 
those  who  did  not,  were  employed  as  gardeners  and 
field-laborers,  and  compelled  to  work  hard,  without 
recompense  beyond  a scanty  supply  of  the  coarsest  food. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  unfortunate  result  of  this 
expedition,  the  emperor  made  some  important  acquisi- 
tions to  his  dominions,  amongst  which  was  the  kingdom 
of  Tibet — an  extensive  country  which  is  still  little 
known,  and  chiefly  remarkable  as  being  the  high  seat 
of  the  Buddhist  religion  and  the  residence  of  Grand 
Lama  or  pontiff  of  that  faith.  Tibet  is  an  advanta- 
geous possession  to  the  Chinese  empire,  on  account  of  its 
situation  between  the  north-western  frontier  of  China 
and  the  countries  of  various  Indian  and  Tartar  tribes, 
who  might  possibly  be  very  troublesome  neighbors  but 
that  their  veneration  for  the  Grand  Lama  keeps  them 
from  disturbing  his  dominions ; so  that  Tibet  forms  a 
sort  of  neutral  ground,  which  prevents  the  approach  of 
an  enemy  on  that  side  of  the  empire  of  which  it  now 
constitutes  a part. 

But  of  all  the  wars  of  Ivien-lung  none  has  so  much 
interest  as  the  contest  with  the  Miau-tsz — a singular 
people  who  have  existed  in  China  from  a most  remote 
period  of  its  history,  yet  have  preserved  their  original 
freedom,  and  remain  to  this  day  independent  tribes, 
though  less  numerous  and  powerful  perhaps  than  be- 
fore the  armies  of  Kien-lung  appeared  among  their 
mountains  spreading  death  and  desolation  on  every 
side. 


V 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG . 


301 


"We  liave  mentioned  in  a previous  chapter  the  moun- 
tainous districts  inhabited  by  many  different  portions  of 
this  race,  who  are  quite  distinct  from  the  Chinese,  whose 
government  they  scarcely  acknowledge,  and  whose  civil- 
ization they  do  not  share.  The  southern  part  of  China 
was  in  a state  of  barbarism  long  after  the  north  had 
been  comparatively  civilized ; but  how  it  happens  that 
they  have  been  permitted  to  remain  unsubdued  and  in- 
dependent has  not  been  accounted  for.  Perhaps  the  moun- 
tainous nature  of  the  region  which  they  inhabit,  and 
which  gives  them  advantages  over  an  enemy,  may,  with 
other  causes,  have  tended  to  discourage  attempts  to  sub- 
ject them.  They  are  governed  by  their  own  laws  and 
have  their  own  chiefs.  Their  independence  of  the 
Tartar  government  was  shown  by  the  retention  of  their 
hair,  which  was  allowed  to  grow  over  the  whole  head, 
and,  being  of  great  length,  was  tied  up  in  the  ancient 
Chinese  fashion.  The  Chinese  consider  them  as  a 
people  totally  different  from  themselves,  insomuch  that 
in  their  maps  they  even  mark  off  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try occupied  by  them,  as  though  it  were  inhabited  by  a 
foreign  race. 

The  intercourse  of  the  Chinese  with  the  Miau-tsz  was 
sometimes  of  a friendly,  sometimes  of  a hostile  nature ; 
for,  like  most  barbarians  who  dwell  in  the  vicinity  of  a 
fertile  country,  the  Miau-tsz  were  addicted  to  plunder, 
and  would  occasionally  make  incursions  into  the  plains, 
and  carry  off  such  spoils  as  fell  in  their  wTay ; while  at 
other  times  they  pursued  a peaceful  traffic  with  the 
Chinese,  who  purchased  their  forest  timber,  which 
abounds  on  the  mountains,  but  is  scarce  in  the  level 
country,  where  all  the  ancient  forests  have  long  since 


302 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


been  cleared  away,  in  order  to  afford  space  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  rice  and  cotton  to  feed  and  clothe  the  over- 
flowing population. 

Although  the  Miau-tsz  are  not  subjects  of  the  emperor, 
yet  every  hostile  incursion  which  they  make  against  the 
Chinese  is  regarded  by  the  latter  as  an  act  of  rebellion. 
In  the  year  1770  one  of  the  tribes  made  several  ma- 
rauding expeditions  into  the  plains,  and  committed  such 
extensive  depredations  that  a military  force  was  sent  to 
invade  their  mountain  territory,  the  emperor  being 
resolved  to  subjugate  or  destroy  their  whole  race.  The 
imperial  army  entered  the  hills,  which  soon  presented 
frightful  scenes  of  bloodshed,  for  the  people  fought  des- 
perately in  defence  of  their  liberty ; and  so  great  was 
their  dread  of  being  brought  under  the  authority  of  the 
Chinese  government  that  even  the  women  were  seen 
fighting  by  the  sides  of  their  husbands.  At  length  the 
Chinese  general  gained  possession  of  their  principal  town, 
when  the  chief  took  refuge  in  a strong  fortress  at  some 
distance,  from  whence  he  sent  a deputation  to  the  gen- 
eral, offering  to  acknowledge  himself  a vassal  of  the 
emperor,  provided  he  might  be  permitted  to  retain  his 
territories  and  rule  over  his  people  as  before.  But  the 
mighty  monarch,  bent  upon  crushing  the  liberties  of  the 
mountaineers,  sent  forth  his  imperial  mandate  that  the 
whole  population  should  remove  from  their  native  hills 
to  some  distant  part  of  the  empire,  where  they  might  be 
kept  in  subjection,  which  they  scarcely  could  be  so  long 
as  they  maintained  the  strong  position  they  had  hitherto 
occupied.  The  chief  of  the  unfortunate  tribe,  to  whom 
this  sentence  of  expatriation  was  worse  than  death, 
collected  his  warriors  around  him,  determined  to  resist 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-L  UNG. 


303 


to  the  last,  declaring  that  he  would  rather  perish  on  his 
native  soil  than  rule  as  a sovereign  in  a foreign  land ; 
but  a still  more  melancholy  fate  than  either  awaited  the 
brave  barbarian,  for,  being  at  length  made  prisoner,  he 
was  conveyed  with  many  other  captives  to  Peking, 
where  he  was  condemned  to  suffer  an  ignominious 
death,  together  with  nineteen  individuals  of  his  family, 
who  were  beheaded  at  the  same  time  with  him ; while 
some  of  his  people,  men,  women  and  children,  were 
dragged  from  their  homes  and  distributed  as  slaves 
through  various  parts  of  the  empire. 

Still  the  Miau-tsz  were  not  conquered ; for  although 
that  one  particular  tribe  was  exterminated,  there  were 
others  in  different  parts  of  the  mountains,  who  soon 
afterward  appeared  in  great  numbers.  “ The  emperor,” 
says  Sir  J.  F.  Davis,  “ boasted  that  they  were  subdued, 
but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  hardy  people, 
entrenched  in  the  natural  fortifications  of  their  rude  and 
precipitous  mountains,  lost  little  of  the  real  independence 
which  they  had  enjoyed  for  ages.  They  have  never  yet 
submitted  to  the  Tartar  tonsure,  the  most  conclusive 
mark  of  conquest,  and  their  renewed  acts  of  hostility 
have  given  serious  alarm  and  trouble  to  the  Peking 
government.” 

The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Kien-lung  is  remarka- 
ble for  the  first  direct  intercourse  ever  held  between  the 
courts  of  Great  Britain  and  China.  An  embassy  was 
sent  by  his  Britannic  Majesty  to  the  sovereign  of  the 
Chinese  empire  under  the  following  circumstances. 
Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  in  1720,  Kien- 
lung  had  established  a company  called  the  Hong  Mer- 
chants, consisting  of  the  principals  of  a number  of  hongs , 


304 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EXPIRE. 


or  mercantile  houses,  who  were  invested  with  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  transacting  all  business  with  Europeans ; 
and  these  were  prohibited  from  dealing  with  any  other 
Chinese  traders,  and  were  obliged  to  purchase  their  tea, 
silks  and  other  commodities  of  importance  from  the 
hong  merchants,  who  fixed  the  price  of  all  goods,  either 
exported  or  imported,  and  regulated  the  terms  on  which 
foreigners  were  to  conduct  their  trade  with  China.  They 
were  responsible  to  the  government  for  the  customs  and 
duties  on  all  goods  brought  into  or  sent  out  of  the 
country ; and  they  were  also  answerable  to  the  foreign 
merchants  for  the  value  of  their  cargoes  after  they  were 
landed ; so  that  any  losses  sustained  on  either  side  were 
to  be  made  up  by  them ; yet  their  profits  were  so  enor- 
mous that  they  grew  in  general  very  rich  and  lived  in 
great  splendor. 

In  the  year  1771,  however,  the  co-hong  was  dissolved, 
and  then  there  was  no  restriction  to  prevent  other  Chi- 
nese merchants  from  trading  with  the  Europeans ; yet 
the  hong  merchants  contrived  to  maintain  their  monopoly 
by  making  handsome  presents  frequently  to  the  magis- 
trates at  Canton,  who,  in  return,  suffered  no  one  to  inter- 
fere with  their  trade.  This  led  to  very  unfair  dealings 
on  the  part  of  the  latter,  who,  to  indemnify  themselves 
for  the  large  presents  they  were  obliged  to  make  for  the 
protection  of  their  monopoly,  charged  most  exorbitant 
prices  for  their  goods  and  practiced  all  kinds  of  imposi- 
tion on  the  European  traders.  The  British  merchants, 
who  were  the  greatest  sufferers  by  their  extortions,  en- 
deavored to  get  a memorial  presented  to  the  emperor ; 
but  their  petitions  were  never  allowed  to  reach  the  court, 
and  they  had  no  alternative  but  to  submit  to  imposition 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG. 


305 


or  to  give  up  the  trade  altogether.  Some  of  the  hong 
merchants  had  contracted  very  heavy  debts  with  the 
English,  which  they  refused  to  pay;  and  serious  disputes 
arising  on  that  point,  as  well  as  on  many  others,  the 
British  government  at  length  determined  to  send  an 
embassy  to  the  court  of  Peking,  to  lay  all  these  com- 
plaints before  the  emperor  and  solicit  redress.  Lord 
Macartney,  former  governor  of  Madras,  was  appointed 
ambassador  on  this  extraordinary  occasion,  and  being 
furnished  with  many  valuable  presents  for  the  great 
Eastern  autocrat,  he  set  sail  from  Portsmouth,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1792,  and  arrived  at  Canton  in  June,  the  follow- 
ing year.  As  the  first  British  embassy  to  the  Celestial 
Empire  its  history  will  continue  to  be  interesting.  The 
ambassador  and  his  train  were  received  with  the  highest 
marks  of  distinction,  for  the  emperor  had  been  apprised 
of  their  coming,  and  had  sent  orders  to  the  governors 
of  the  different  cities  and  provinces  where  they  wTould 
stop  in  their  way  to  Peking  that  every  attention  should 
be  paid  to  them,  and  all  things  provided  for  their  accom- 
modation— a command  which  was  most  scrupulously 
obeyed,  so  that  they  were  not  only  well  entertained  when 
they  went  on  shore,  but  ample  stores  of  provisions,  with 
wine,  tea  and  baskets  of  porcelain,  were  sent  to  their 
ships  by  the  magistrates  of  several  places  where  they  cast 
anchor  on  the  voyage  from  Canton  toward  the  capital ; 
for,  as  the  empire  is  not  open  to  the  admission  of  stran- 
gers except  by  favor,  those  who  visit  it  on  state  affairs 
are  considered  and  treated  as  guests  of  the  sovereigns  or 
persons  in  his  service  for  the  time  being,  and  not  as 
travelers  who  are  free  to  go  where  they  please  and  to 

have  what  they  choose  to  order  in  return  for  payment ; 

20 


306 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


consequently,  tlie  accommodation  they  meet  with  depends 
very  much  on  whether  the  mission  be  agreeable  or  not 
to  his  majesty.  This  fact  was  duly  exemplified  by  the 
following  circumstances  which  occurred  at  Chusan. 

The  British  ships  having  to  sail  round  the  coast  to 
the  gulf  of  Pe-che-lee,  required  experienced  pilots  to 
conduct  them  along  the  shore,  with  which  the  English 
sailors  were  totally  unacquainted.  The  governor  was 
solicited  to  furnish  proper  persons  for  the  purpose ; on 
which  he  sent  into  the  town  of  Ting-hai,  the  capital,  to 
order  all  who  had  ever  performed  that  voyage  to  repair 
immediately  to  the  hall  of  audience.  A great  many 
men  presented  themselves,  and  among  others,  two  trades- 
. men  who  had  been  to  Tien-tsin,  a city  on  the  Pei-ho 
river,  on  their  own  affairs,  and  these  were  the  individuals 
selected  to  perform  the  office  of  pilots  to  the  British  em- 
bassy. It  was  in  vain  they  desired  to  be  excused,  on 
the  plea  that  their  business  would  be  ruined  by  their 
absence,  and  their  families  reduced  to  great  distress ; the 
governor  only  replied  that  the  emperor’s  commands  were 
explicit  and  must  be  obeyed.  The  poor  men,  therefore, 
were  obliged  to  go,  inconvenient  as  it  was  to  them. 

The  Pei-ho  passes  near  Peking  in  its  course  to  the  gulf 
of  Pe-che-lee,  and  has  many  populous  towns  and  villages 
on  its  banks.  The  number  of  barges  and  junks  con- 
tinually passing  up  and  down  this  busy  stream  is  a 
proof  of  the  wealth  and  populousness  of  the  country, 
many  of  them  being  engaged  in  commerce,  while  many 
are  government  boats,  employed  chiefly  in  conveying  to 
the  capital  grain  and  other  produce  of  the  land,  collected 
from  the  people  of  the  neighboring  provinces,  who  pay 
their  taxes,  or  rather  rents,  chiefly  in  kind.  The  junks 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG. 


307 


are  strongly  built  and  curved  upward  at  each  extremity, 
the  stern  being  much  higher  than  the  bow.  The  sails 
are  of  matting  or  cotton,  made  to  fold  up  like  a fan,  with 
bamboo  yards  or  stretchers.  Great  labor  is  required  in 
setting  them,  as  the  Chinese  have  no  proper  machinery 
for  that  purpose,  so  that  all  their  manoeuvres  in  working 
a ship  are  performed  by  actual  strength.  Most  of  the 
sailors,  with  their  families,  live  constantly  on  board  the 
junks,  having  no  home  on  shore;  and  there  are  many 
companies  of  actors  also  who  have  no  other  dwelling- 
place  than  a covered  boat  on  the  river. 

The  government  yachts  which  conveyed  the  embassy 
up  the  Pei-ho  were  extremely  handsome  and  commo- 
dious; but  as  the  Chinese  officers  had  no  idea  that  an  am- 
bassador could  come  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  bring 
tribute  and  do  homage  to  the  emperor  on  the  part  of 
his  master,  they  had  caused  flags  to  be  attached  to  the 
yachts,  displaying  these  words  in  large  Chinese  charac- 
ters, “ Ambassadors  bearing  tribute  from  the  country  of 
England;”  nor  would  they  believe  that  the  presents 
brought  for  the  emperor  were  to  be  viewed  in  any  other 
light.  The  viceroy  of  the  province  of  Chih-li,  a ven- 
erable old  man  about  eighty  years  of  age,  had  traveled 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  in  obedience  to  the  commands 
of  his  imperial  master,  to  be  in  readiness  at  Tien-tsin  to 
receive  the  English  ambassador,  who  went  on  shore,  ac- 
companied by  several  gentlemen  of  his  suite,  to  pay  a 
visit  to  that  high  functionary. 

While  ascending  the  Pei-ho,  a gentleman  of  the  mis- 
sion remarks,  “The  approach  of  the  embassy  was  an 
event  of  which  the  report  spread  rapidly  among  the 
neighboring  towns  and  villages.  Several  of  these  were 


308 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


visible  from  the  barges  upon  the  river.  Crowds  of  men 
were  assembled  on  the  banks,  some  of  whom  waited  a 
considerable  time  to  see  the  procession  pass ; while  the 
females,  as  shy  as  they  were  curious,  looked  through 
gates  or  peeped  over  walls  to  enjoy  the  sight.  A few, 
indeed,  of  the  ancient  dames  almost  dipped  their  little 
feet  into  the  river  in  order  to  get  a nearer  peep,  but  the 
younger  part  of  the  sex  generally  kept  in  the  back- 
ground. The  strangers,  on  their  part,  were  continually 
amused  and  gratified  with  a succession  of  new  objects. 
The  face  of  the  country,  the  appearance  of  the  people, 
presented  in  almost  every  instance  something  different 
from  what  is  offered  to  the  view  elsewhere.  And  a gen- 
eral sentiment  prevailed  that  it  was  well  worth  while  to 
have  traveled  to  such  a distance  to  behold  a country 
which  promised  to  be  interesting  in  every  respect.” 1 

Tien-tsin  is  the  great  emporium  for  the  north  of 
China,  as  Canton  is  for  the  south.  It  extends  for  sev- 
eral miles  along  both  sides  of  the  river, 'on  the  banks  of 
which  are  many  quays  and  dockyards,  with  large  pub- 
lic buildings,  the  chief  of  which  are  the  custom-houses, 
warehouses  and  temples.  The  shops  are  handsome  and 
well  furnished,  but  the  private  houses  are  no  ornaments 
to  the  streets,  being  built,  as  in  all  large  Chinese  cities, 
within  a court  enclosed  by  a brick  wall. 

The  Chinese  are  never  at  a loss  for  a hall  of  reception, 
as  they  can  construct,  at  a few  hours’  notice,  a temporary 
building  or  pavilion  of  bamboo,  covered  with  thatch 
above  and  matting  on  the  sides,  which,  being  carpeted 

1 Sir  George  Staunton,  Bart.,  in  his  Authentic  Account  of  the  Embassy,  etc., 
taken  chiefly  from  the  Papers  of  his  Excellency  the  Earl  of  Macartney.  London, 
179S. 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-L  UNG. 


309 


and  adorned  with  silken  hangings  and  other  tasteful 
ornaments,  answers  all  the  purposes  of  a palace  for  oc- 
casions of  ceremony.  It  was  in  such  a hall  that  the 
gentlemen  of  the  embassy  were  received  by  the  viceroy 
of  Chih-li,  with  all  the  attention  due  to  their  rank  and 
the  well-bred  politeness  wdiich  generally  characterizes 
the  manners  of  a Chinese  gentleman. 

It  is  remarked  by  Lord  Macartney  that  men  of  rank 
in  China  appear  to  treat  their  domestics  with  a degree 
of  kindness  and  condescension  seldom  met  with  in 
Europe ; and  yet  it  is  most  probable  that  the  servants 
alluded  to  were  slaves,  for  domestic  slavery  is  common 
among  the  Chinese,  and  does  not  seem  to  be  a very  hard 
lot.  In  the  higher  walks  of  life  the  customs  of  society 
were  found  not  to  be  devoid  of  the  elegance  and  refine- 
ment of  the  most  polished' circles  of  Europe.  The  vice- 
roy of  Chih-li,  whose  advanced  age  made  it  extremely 
inconvenient  for  him  to  go  on  board  the  yachts,  returned 
the  ambassador’s  visit  by  being  carried  down  to  the 
shore  in  a chair,  and  sending  an  officer  to  the  boat  to 
present  his  visiting-card.  The  Chinese  visiting-cards, 
however,  are  sheets  of  crimson  paper,  ten  inches  in 
length  and  four  in  wddth,  the  name  and  titles  of  the 
visitor  being  written  down  the  right  side  of  them. 

From  Tien-tsin  the  embassy  proceeded  to  Tung-chau, 
a city  distant  from  Peking  about  twelve  miles,  where  the 
whole  party  landed ; and  as  it  was  necessary  to  remain 
there  a few  days,  a Buddhist  temple  was  prepared  for 
their  accommodation,  the  priests  being  obliged  to  re- 
move for  the  time  to  another  monastery  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, with  the  exception  of  one,* who  was  left  to 
watch  over  the  lamps  of  the  shrine.  These  temples  are 


310  TIIE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

always  used  as  hotels  on  all  occasions  connected  with  the 
government ; but  the  priests  are  not  required  to  furnish 
the  guests  with  entertainment  as  well  as  lodgiug,  their 
table  being  supplied,  free  of  cost,  by  the  governor  of  the 
city,  wherever  they  may  be.  The  only  thing  difficult 
to  be  procured  was  milk,  which  is  never  used  by  the 
Chinese ; neither  do  they  make  cheese  or  butter ; but 
when  it  was  understood  that  the  strangers  were  in  the 
habit  of  mixing  milk  with  their  tea,  and  that  it  was  not 
pleasant  to  them  without  this  ingredient,  much  trouble 
was  taken  to  procure  two  cows,  which  formed  a part 
of  their  train  during  the  remainder  of  their  sojourn  in 
China. 

The  whole  way,  from  the  landing-place  at  which  the 
yachts  were  stationed,  to  the  temple  where  the  ambas- 
sador and  his  suite  were  lodged,  was  like  a fair.  A 
great  number  of  petty  tradesmen,  such  as  pastry-cooks, 
dealers  in  spirituous  liquors  and  persons  who  keep  eat- 
ing-houses, had  their  booths  for  the  sale  of  various  re- 
freshments, among  which  were  tea  and  rice  prepared  for 
eating,  which  may  always  he  had  in  the  streets  of  every 
town  in  China,  where  a working-man  may  dine  very 
well  at  any  time  for  one  or  two  cents  of  our  money. 

The  English  travelers  went  by  land  from  Tung-chau 
to  Peking,  some  in  palanquins,  others  on  horseback,  and 
the  rest  in  small  rude  carts  with  two  wheels,  which  is 
the  only  kind  of  carriage  used  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, and,  having  no  springs,  is  a very  uneasy  conveyance. 
The  road  is  usually  broad,  bordered  on  each  side  by 
willow  trees  of  immense  size,  and  paved  with  large  flat 
stones.  The  pavement  is  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  in- 
stead of  at  the  sides  as  with  us,  which  is  easily  accounted 


THE  GEE  AT  KIEN-LTJNG. 


311 


for  by  the  rarity  of  wheel  carriages,  which  are  less  com- 
mon, even  for  long  journeys,  than  sedans  and  horses. 
The  party  was  escorted  by  a guard  of  soldiers,  whose 
chief  employment  the  whole  way  was  to  keep  off  the 
crowd  with  their  whips,  of  which  they  did  not  scruple 
to  make  very  free  use ; but  curiosity  was  stronger  than 
fear,  and  no  sooner  did  the  whips  cease  to  play  than  the 
mob  again  pressed  forward,  while  every  wall,  house-top 
and  tree  was  thronged  with  spectators. 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  August,  and  the  emperor 
had  not  yet  returned  to  the  capital  from  his  palace  at 
Jeh-ho  (called  by  Macartney  Zehol)  in  Tartary,  one  of 
his  numerous  residences,  where  it  was  customary  for  the 
court  to  reside  during  the  summer  months.  Jeh-ho  is 
about  fifty  miles  to  the  north  of  the  Great  Wall,  and 
about  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Yellow 
sea ; consequently  it  is  much  cooler  than  in  China,  and 
on  that  account  is  pleasant  as  a summer  retreat.  The 
country  beyond*  the  wall  is  wild  and  mountainous,  and 
bears  in  its  principal  features  a great  resemblance  to 
Savoy  and  Switzerland.  There  is  a good  road  for  gen- 
eral traffic  all  the  way  from  Peking  to  Jeh-ho,  parallel 
to  which  there  is  a private  road,  kept  in  the  highest 
order  by  the  soldiers,  expressly  for  the  use  of  the  em- 
peror and  court.  Traveling  palaces  or  imperial  hotels 
are  erected  at  certain  distances  all  the  way  from  the 
capital,  as  the  emperor  never  on  any  occasion  conde- 
scends to  take  refreshment  or  pass  the  night  at  the 
house  of  a subject,  although  the  palaces  of  some  of  the 
viceroys  are  little  inferior  to  his  own.  The  name  Jeh-ho 
signifies  Hot  Streams,  and  was  doubtless  derived  from 
some  thermal  and  medicinal  springs  in  the  neighborhood. 


312 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  palace  and  gardens  are  situated  in  a romantic 
valley  on  the  banks  of  a fine  river  overhung  by  rugged 
mountains.  The  park,  which  is  very  extensive,  presents 
the  most  magnificent  specimen  of  the  Chinese  style  to  be 
found  in  the  whole  empire,  as  the  objects  that  are  usu- 
ally crowded  together  in  too  small  a space  to  produce  a 
pleasing  effect  are  at  Jeh-ho  distributed  over  a vast  area, 
the  imperial  park  being  not  less  than  eighteen  miles  in 
circumference,  including  the  palace  and  gardens  of  the 
ladies,  which  are  enclosed  within  a separate  wall.  The 
western  side  of  the  park  is  occupied  by  thick  woods  of 
oak,  pine  and  chestnut  trees,  covering  the  sides  of  the 
steep  mountains,  where  a great  number  of  deer  are  kept 
for  the  chase ; the  rest  is  laid  out  in  ornamental  pleas- 
ure-grounds, adorned  with  as  many  as  fifty  handsome 
pavilions  magnificently  furnished,  each  containing  a 
state-room  with  a throne  in  it,  and  some  of  them  having 
a large  banqueting-hall,  where  entertainments  are  given 
on  special  occasions  to  the  great  gentlemen  of  the  court. 

Among  the  ornaments  of  these  beautiful  pleasure- 
grounds  are  small  transparent  lakes,  filled  with  gold 
and  silver  fishes ; and  a broad  canal,  on  which  are  sev- 
eral islands,  adorned  with  pagodas  and  summer-houses 
of  various  forms,  sheltered  by  groves  of  trees  and  frag- 
rant shrubs.  All  Chinese  buildings  of  this  description 
are  highly  decorated,  and  generally  bear  some  resem- 
blance to  a tent,  which  is  evidently  the  model  from 
which  the  architecture  of  China  was  originally  de- 
signed. 

Kear  the  palace  of  Jeh-ho,  on  the  side  of  a steep  hill, 
stands  the  magnificent  temple  of  Pu-ta-la,  the  largest 
and  richest  in  the  whole  empire,  covering  above  twenty 


TUE  GREAT  KIEN-LTJNG. 


313 


acres  of  ground,  and  built  at  an  immense  cost  by  Kien- 
lung,  for  whose  service  this  splendid  pile  was  erected. 
It  consists  of  one  large  temple  or  monastery,  with  a 
number  of  smaller  buildings  and  pagodas  attached  to  it. 
The  great  temple  is  an  immense  square,  eleven  stories  in 
height,  these  stories  being  distinguished  by  galleries 
running  round  the  four  sides  of  the  building,  containing 
the  apartments  of  the  lamas  or  priests,  of  whom  there 
were  not  less  than  eight  hundred  at  the  time  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking,  so  munificently  was  the  establish- 
ment endowed  by  its  founder.  In  the  centre  of  the 
great  temple  is  the  golden  chapel,  where  the  priests  per- 
form their  devotions.  It  derives  its  name  from  its 
gilded  roof ; and  in  the  middle  is  a small  space  railed 
off,  in  which,  elevated  by  steps,  stand  three  altars  richly 
adorned,  each  supporting  a colossal  statue,  said  to  be  of 
solid  gold,  but  of  course  only  gilded.  The  priests,  who 
wear  yellow  robes,  chaunt  their  service  in  a kind  of  re- 
citative, striking  drums  at  intervals;  but  there  is  no 
congregation ; and  although  people  sometimes  go  into 
this  and  other  Buddhist  temples  from  curiosity  to  ob- 
serve the  rites,  none  join  in  them. 

It  was  at  Jeh-ho  that  the  emperor  chose  te  receive 
the  English  embassy.  The  custom  of  Eastern  sovereigns 
has  always  been  to  hold  levees  soon  after  daybreak ; 1 
and  such  was  the  practice  of  the  emperor  Kien-lung, 
although  he  had  arrived  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
three.  At  the  first  appearance  of  dawn,  on  the  day 
appointed  for  the  reception  of  the  embassy,  were  assem- 

1 This  will  remind  the  reader  of  the  hour  of  the  meeting  of  the  Jewish  San- 
hedrim to  try  Jesus,  “ when  the  morning  was  come”  (Matt,  xxvii.  1) ; “ 
as  it  was  day”  (Luke  xxii.  66). 


as  soon 


314 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


bled  all  the  princes  of  tlie  imperial  family,  the  principal 
officers  of  state,  with  a great  number  of  lower  officers  and 
several  Mongol  chiefs,  who  had  come,  as  was  customary, 
to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  emperor’s  birth- 
day, which  was  drawing  near,  and  was  always  kept  with 
much  ceremony.  The  hall  of  audience,  on  this  occasion, 
was  a magnificent  tent  in  the  park,  supported  by  gilded 
pillars,  at  the  upper  end  of  which  was  placed  a throne 
under  a canopy,  raised  several  steps  from  the  ground, 
which  last  was  covered  with  rich  carpets  and  furnished 
with  embroidered  cushions  of  exquisite  workmanship. 
From  the  top  of  the  tent  hung  several  of  those  elegant 
painted  lanterns  so  conspicuous  among  Chinese  decora- 
tions and  unequaled  for  beauty  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
The  emperor’s  approach  was  announced  by  the  sound  of 
gongs  and  trumpets.  He  was  carried  in  a palanquin  by 
sixteen  bearers,  a number  that  is  not  permitted  to  any 
other  individual  in  the  empire ; and  was  surrounded  by 
the  usual  appendages  of  Chinese  dignity — flags,  stand- 
ards, fans  and  parasols.  He  was  plainly  dressed,  as 
suited  his  venerable  years,  in  a robe  of  yellow  silk,  with 
no  ornaments  about  his  person  except  a large  pearl  in 
th£  front  of  his  black  velvet  cap. 

The  British  ambassador,  who  was  presented  by  the 
president  of  the  Board  of  Rites,  was  most  graciously  re- 
ceived, although  he  did  not  pay  that  homage  to  which 
the  great  autocrat  was  accustomed,  but  merely  bent  one 
knee  in  presenting  his  credentials.  This  omission  of  the 
ko-tau  by  Lord  Macartney  excited  many  criticisms  and 
comments.  It  may  be  reasonably  supposed  that  the 
reigning  emperor,  at  the  close  of  a very  long  and  pros- 
perous reign,  felt  sufficiently  assured  of  his  own  power 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-L UNO. 


315 


and  greatness  to  dispense  with  such  a ceremony ; and 
that  the  authority  of  his  son  and  successor,  Kia-king, 
who  was  on  the  throne  when  the  next  British  ambassa- 
dor (Lord  Amherst)  appeared  at  court,  having  been 
shaken  by  frequent  insurrections,  and  even  by  some 
attempts  against  his  life,  this  circumstance  rendered 
him — or,  at  least,  his  courtiers — more  tenacious  of  ex- 
ternal forms.  Some  compliments  were  exchanged,  and 
several  presents  also ; for  the  etiquette  of  the  court  of 
China  requires  that  every  envoy  who  approaches  the 
throne  shall  be  provided  with  a suitable  offering,  for 
which  he  usually  receives  a gift  in  return ; but  it  should 
be  observed  that  the  former  is  accepted  as  a humble 
tribute  due  from  an  inferior,  while  the  latter  is  conferred 
as  a mark  of  extreme  condescension.  When  the  cere- 
monies were  ended,  a sumptuous  breakfast  was  served 
up  in  the  tent  in  the  Chinese  fashion ; and  while  all 
present  partook  of  the  repast,  a band  of  music  played  on 
the  lawn,  where  tumblers  and  rope-dancers  exhibited 
various  feats  of  agility,  and  a play  was  performed  on  a 
raised  stage.  Such  plays  are  largely  historical;  the 
acting,  however,  is  unnatural. 

They  have  no  scenery,  but  very  fine  dresses ; and,  hs 
no  women  are  allowed  to  appear  on  the  stage,  the  female 
characters  are  always  performed  by  boys.  At  Jeh-ho 
the  ladies  of  the  court  had  a theatre  for  their  own  espe- 
cial amusement,  where  plays  were  acted  every  day,  which 
were  sometimes  attended  by  the  emperor  and  his  minis- 
ters, but  more  frequently  by  the  ladies  only.  One  of 
their  greatest  enjoyments  was  to  form  parties  of  pleasure 
on  the  canal,  for  which  purpose  there  were  yachts  always 
in  readiness,  fitted  up  in  the  most  elegant  manner,  but 


31G 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


so  contrived  that  the  fair  occupants  were  entirely  screened 
from  observation. 

There  was  no  empress  at  this  period,  for  the  princess 
who  had  enjoyed  that  dignity  was  dead,  and  Ivien-lung 
had  not  thought  proper  to  raise  another  to  the  throne. 
The  laws  of  China  admit  of  only  one  proper  wife  ; hence 
the  Tartar  sovereigns  give  to  one  a rank  above  the  rest, 
and  she  alone  is  called  empress,  while  the  others  have 
the  title  of  queen.  There  were  eight  queens  at  this 
time — two  of  the  first  and  six  of  the  second  rank ; and 
these  had  each  a certain  number  of  ladies  in  her  train, 
making  altogether  upward  of  one  hundred  females  be- 
longing to  the  court.  So  long  as  the  emperor  lives 
these  ladies  usually  lead  pleasant  lives,  but  their  subse- 
quent lot  is  not  very  enviable,  as  they  are  then  removed 
to  a building  near  the  palace,  which  may  be  termed  a 
nunnery,  since  they  are  obliged,  by  the  customs  of  the 
country,  to  pass  the  remainder  of  their  lives  within  its 
walls  in  utter  seclusion. 

The  English  visitors  stayed  a week  at  Jeh-ho,  and 
were  present  at  the  anniversary  of  the  emperor’s  birth- 
day, which  is  a holiday  throughout  the  empire.  The 
ce’remonies  of  the  court  consisted  principally  in  the 
grand  birth-day  ode,  sung  in  chorus  by  voices  innu- 
merable, accompanied  by  deep-toned  bells  and  solemn 
music.  The  emperor  was  present,  but  not  visible,  being- 
seated  behind  a screen  in  a large  hall,  where  all  the 
courtiers  were  assembled  in  their  state  dresses  to  pay  the 
customary  homage,  which  was  done  by  falling  prostrate 
at  the  conclusion  of  every  stanza  of  the  ode,  which  has 
been  thus  translated : “ Bow  down  your  heads,  all  ye 
dwellers  on  the  earth ; bow  down  your  heads  before  the 


THE  GREAT  KEEN-LUNG. 


317 


great  Kien-lung !”  an  exhortation  that  was  literally 
obeyed. 

The  two  or  three  days  which  succeeded  the  birth-day 
were  entirely  devoted  to  shows,  sports  and  festivities,  in 
which  all  classes  participated. 

When  the  gayeties  were  over,  it  was  intimated  to  the 
British  ambassador  that  it  would  be  proper  to  take  his 
leave  of  Jeh-ho,  and  return  without  delay  to  Canton, 
whither  the  emperor’s  answer  on  the  subject  of  the  em- 
bassy would  be  forwarded.  Instead  of  returning  by  sea, 
as  they  came,  the  strangers  passed  by  the  Canal  and  rivers 
through  the  provinces  of  Shan-tung,  Kiang-nan,  Chi- 
kiang,  Kiang-si  and  Kwang-tung,  or  Canton,  a journey 
which  occupied  about  ten  weeks.  The  highly-cultivated 
state  of  the  country,  the  number,  wealth  and  greatness 
of  its  cities,  its  abundant  resources  and  myriads  of  in- 
habitants, were  subjects  of  wonder  and  admiration  to  our 
travelers.  The  emperor  wrote  a very  friendly  letter  to 
King  George  III.,  but  did  not  accede  to  the  request  that 
he  would  allow  the  subjects  of  the  latter  to  trade  to 
Ning-po,  Amoy  and  other  maritime  cities  besides  Canton, 
as  they  used  to  do  before  they  were  restricted  to  that  one 
port.  The  mission,  however,  was  in  some  degree  suc- 
cessful, as  the  viceroy  of  Canton,  wTho  had  encouraged 
the  frauds  practiced  on  British  merchants,  was  removed 
from  his  office,  while  the  governor  appointed  in  his  room 
received  peremptory  orders  to  put  a stop  to  the  griev- 
ances complained  of ; so  that  for  a short  time  the  trade 
was  conducted  on  a fairer  footing,  when  the  abdication 
and  subsequent  death  of  Kien-lung  afforded  an  opportu- 
nity for  the  renewal  of  all  the  former  oppressions. 

It  was  in  the  next  year  but  one  following  Lord  Ma- 


318  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 

cartney’s  embassy  that  the  aged  emperor  of  China  com- 
pleted the  sixtieth  year  of  his  felicitous  reign,  and,  in 
accordance  with  the  vow  he  had  made  at  its  commence- 
ment, prepared  to  resign  the  throne  he  had  filled  with 
so  much  ability.  He  had  had  twenty-one  sons,  of  whom 
only  four  were  then  living.  The  youngest  was  his 
favorite,  and  to  that  prince,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Kia-king,  he  determined  to  resign  his  empire.  The 
sixtieth  anniversary  of  his  accession  was  celebrated  by 
a grand  jubilee  throughout  China,  when  many  acts  of 
munificence  were  performed  by  the  emperor;1  and  among 
others,  he  desired  that  all  the  old  men  who  had  passed 
the  age  of  seventy  should  be  invited  to  a feast,  prepared 
for  them  at  his  expense,  in  every  district  over  the  whole 
empire. 

He  reserved  to  himself  the  title  of  the  supreme  evi- 
peror,  but  he  retired  altogether  from  state  affairs,  and 
died  soon  afterward,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-eight. 
He  was  highly  distinguished  as  a patron  of  literature, 
to  which,  as  we  have  stated,  he  was  himself  a valuable 
contributor.  He  was  indefatigable  in  his  attention  to 
business,  and  his  extensive  charities  in  seasons  of  public 
distress  do  honor  to  his  name,  and  give  him  a true  right 
to  that  title  which  it  is  the  aim  of  every  good  ruler  of 
China  to  obtain — that  of  the  Father  of  his  People. 

Kien-lung  had  not  only  kept  together  the  vast  empire, 
but  had  greatly  extended  its  limits.  Two  events  dis- 
turbed the  equanimity  of  the  imperial  court  and  inter- 
fered with  the  British  negotiations : the  rajah  of  Nepaul 
had  been  waging  war  on  Tibet,  and  the  great  French 


1 Sixty  years  complete  a revolution  of  the  Chinese  cycle,  which  corresponds 
in  their  divisions  of  time  with  our  century. 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-L  TJNG. 


319 


Revolution  had  sent  the  echoes  of  its  astounding  deeds 
as  far  as  Peking. 

On  their  return  toward  Canton  the  embassy  and  ser- 
vants were  conveyed  a great  distance  on  the  Grand 
Canal.  This  great  work  is  about  six  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  in  length.  It  is  called  by  the  Chinese  the  Chah- 
ho,  or  Gated  river  [i.  e.y  river  with  locks,  or  gates.)  It 
extends  from  the  Pei-ho  river,  near  Peking,  to  Hang- 
chau,  a great  city  south  of  Shanghai.  It  was  com- 
menced in  the  seventh  century,  and  additions  and 
improvements  added  until  the  last  century.  Its  masonry 
in  some  places  is  solid  and  well  built.  The  passage  of 
boats  from  one  level  to  another  is  ingeniously  effected 
by  drawing  them  by  windlasses  over  embankments 
lubricated  and  protected  by  wet  clay.  The  value  of  this 
channel  for  the  internal  commerce  of  the  empire  is  be- 
yond calculation.  On  the  canal  the  travelers  often  saw  the 
fishing-cormorants  at  their  work.  In  some  places  there 
were  thousands  of  small  boats  and  rafts,  built  entirely 
for  this  curious  species  of  fishery.  On  each  boat  or  raft 
were  ten  or  a dozen  birds,  which,  at  a signal  from  the 
owner,  plunged  into  the  water  to  catch  the  fish  with 
their  bills.  It  was  astonishing  to  see  the  enormous  size 
of  some  of  the  fish  with  which  they  returned  to  the 
boat. 

The  interval  between  the  reign  of  Kien-lung  and  the 
important  one  of  Tau-kwang  was  occupied  by  that  of  a 
man  of  inferior  character,  some  notice  of  whom  may  be 
most  fitly  introduced  at  the  close  of  this  chapter. 

It  was  in  the  year  1795  that  Kia-king  ascended  the 
throne.  The  late  emperor  had  chosen  him  to  succeed 


320 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


him,  because  he  entertained  a very  high  opinion  of  his 
disposition  and  talents  for  government.  But  the  conduct 
of  the  new  monarch  soon  proved  that  both  his  virtues 
and  abilities  had  been  very  much  overrated  by  the  par- 
tiality of  his  fond  father ; for  as  soon  as  he  was  his  own 
master  he  began  to  indulge  in  pleasures  that  would 
have  been  extremely  unbecoming  in  a prince  of  less 
pretensions. 

Ivia-king  seems  to  have  imbibed  no  great  taste  for  the 
restraints  and  etiquette  of  the  Chinese  court,  which  are 
doubtless  excessively  fatiguing,  as  every  word  and  move- 
ment of  the  emperor  ought  to  be  in  accordance  with  that 
dignified  and  even  sacred  character  with  which  he  is 
invested,  and  which  most  of  the  imperial  rulers  of  China 
have  made  it  their  study  to  maintain.  The  Manchu 
emperors  had  all  been  eminently  distinguished  by  the 
stately  air  and  grave  deportment  naturally  looked  for  in 
those  who  are  venerated  as  beings  partaking  of  a supe- 
rior nature ; but  Kia-king  was  utterly  destitute  of  these 
lofty  attributes,  and  not  only  indulged  in  an  immoderate 
love  of  wine,  but  selected  his  favorite  associates  from 
amongst  the  actors,  who,  in  China,  are  considered  the 
very  lowest  class  of  the  community.  It  is  even  said 
that,  when  heated  with  wine,  he  sometimes  degraded 
himself  so  far  as  to  take  a part  in  the  dramatic  perform- 
ances of  his  chosen  companions.  An  Italian  Catholic 
missionary,  named  Serra,  who  was  for  many  years  em- 
ployed at  Peking,  has  given  a very  particular  account  of 
the  extremely  profligate  habits  of  this  very  unworthy 
son  of  the  great  Kien-lung.  After  the  early  morning 
audience,  from  which  no  emperor  can  excuse  himself, 
and  a hurried  despatch  of  the  business  submitted  to 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LTJNG. 


321 


him,  he  generally  retired  to  the  company  of  his  players, 
buffoons  and  tumblers,  and  afterward  drank  to  excess. 
He  would  frequently  proceed  with  players  to  the  apart- 
ments of  his  women,  in  the  interior  of  the  palace ; and 
it  was  remarked  that  his  two  younger  sons  bore  no 
resemblance  to  himself  or  to  each  other.  He  even 
carried  the  comedians  with  him  when  he  went  to  offer 
sacrifices  at  the  temples  of  Heaven  and  Earth.  The 
ministers  openly  remonstrated  with  him  respecting  these 
disgraceful  propensities,  but  their  admonitions  were  in 
vain;  and  one  of  them,  the  noble  and  faithful  Sung  Taj  in, 
a man  of  very  high  talent,  who  was  exceedingly  useful 
to  the  state,  was  banished  for  presuming  to  speak  freely 
on  the  subject  of  his  faults.  When  summoned  by  the 
emperor  and  asked  what  punishment  he  deserved,  he 
answered,  “A  slow  and  ignominious  death.”  When  told 
to  choose  another,  he  said,  “ Beheading.”  When  asked 
a third  time,  he  chose  “Strangling.”  [These  are  the 
three  gradations  of  capital  punishment.]  He  was  ordered 
to  retire,  and  on  the  following  day  the  court  appointed 
him  governor  of  Chinese  Siberia,  the  region  to  which 
criminals  are  exiled.  Thus,  as  Serra  observes,  the  em- 
peror, though  unable  to  bear  his  censure,  acknowledged 
his  rectitude.  The  people  soon  became  dissatisfied  with 
a monarch  whom  they  could  not  respect,  and  insurrec- 
tions broke  out  in  many  parts  of  the  country ; incited 
in  some  cases  by  the  elder  princes,  who  felt  themselves 
aggrieved  at  the  preference  that  had  been  given  by  their 
father  to  their  youngest  brother. 

Kia-king  was  as  unpopular  among  the  Tartars  as 
among  the  Chinese ; for,  while  the  latter  were  shocked 

at  his  indifference  to  ancient  customs,  the  former  were 
21 


322 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


discontented  at  his  neglect  of  the  annual  hunting  ex- 
cursions, esteemed  as  the  grand  business  of  life  by  all 
the  Tartar  soldiers,  as  well  as  by  the  tributary  nations 
dwelling  beyond  the  Wall.  One  of  the  consequences 
resulting  from  this  state  of  affairs  was  the  formation  of 
secret  associations,  called  Triad  Societies,  which  are 
known  still  to  exist  to  a vast  extent.  The  Triads  know 
each  other  by  secret  signs,  like  the  Freemasons ; their 
object  is  to  overthrow  the  present  government  and  to  re- 
store the  native  princes  to  the  throne. 

Kia-king  severely  persecuted  the  Homan  Catholics  in 
China.  Some  of  the  Roman  missionaries  had  concealed 
themselves  in  remote  parts  of  the  country,  where  they 
appear  to  have  been  cherished  by  the  rural  population. 
Eighteen  of  them  were  discovered,  dragged  to  prison 
and  brutally  beaten ; six  died  in  confinement ; three 
were  taken  into  the  emperor’s  service,  and  nine  were 
driven  out  of  the  empire.  We  have  no  data  to  show 
the  number  of  native  priests  and  converts  who  suffered 
death,  torture,  imprisonment  and  banishment  in  these 
sudden  storms  of  persecution;  but  the  total  number 
was  probably  to  be  counted  by  hundreds.  Political 
reasons  were  those  which  chiefly  influenced  the  Chinese 
government.  Between  the  years  1580  and  1724  there 
had  been  about  five  hundred  missionaries  sent  out  from 
Europe,  and  we  know  that  they  traversed  the  empire, 
and  that  some  were  very  successful  in  propagating  their 
faith. 

In  consequence  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  empire, 
numerous  bands  of  robbers  infested  the  interior  of  the 
country,  while  the  pirates  of  the  Ladrone  Islands  re- 
newed their  depredations  on  the  coast.  Among  these 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LTJNG. 


323 


was  a noted  corsair,  named  Ching-yih,  who  was  no  less 
renowned  and  feared  than  the  famous  Koshinga  had 
been  in  the  time  of  the  first  emperor  of  the  Manchu 
race.  This  formidable  chief  was  in  the  habit  of  levying 
contributions  on  all  the  merchant  vessels  that  appeared 
in  the  Chinese  seas ; he  plundered  the  villages  on  the 
coast,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  engage  in  battle  with  the 
imperial  fleet.  It  was  strongly  suspected  that  he  re- 
ceived secret  assistance  from  many  Chinese  merchants 
of  Amoy  and  Canton,  who  were  disaffected  toward  the 
reigning  family.  The  extent  of  his  depredations  be- 
tween the  years  1806  and  1811  would  be  incredible  if 
not  well  attested  by  English  officers  and  other  Euro- 
peans. Fishermen  and  other  destitute  classes  flocked  by 
thousands  to  his  standard,  and  his  audacity  growing 
with  his  numbers,  he  not  merely  swept  the  coast,  but 
blockaded  the  principal  rivers,  penetrated  far  into  the 
interior  of  the  empire,  surprised  and  plundered  great 
towns  and  took  very  many  large  war-junks.  His  ex- 
ploits were  marked  with  cruelty  and  every  imaginable 
atrocity  and  abomination.  At  one  time  he  controlled 
seventy  thousand  men,  eight  hundred  large  vessels  and 
more  than  a thousand  smaller  ones. 

Ching-yih  was  accidentally  drowned,  but  his  death 
did  not  put  a stop  to  the  lawless  practices  of  his  people ; 
for  his  widow,  who  might  have  been  esteemed  as  a great 
heroine  in  a worthier  cause,  took  the  command  of  the 
fleet,  headed  the  rovers  in  all  their  piratical  expeditions, 
and  actually  fought  in  several  engagements  with  the 
government  forces.  These  Amazonian  qualities  were 
combined  with  very  extraordinary  talents  as  a ruler ; for 
she  drew  up  a regular  code  of  laws  for  the  government  of 


324 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


her  people,  by  which  they  were  bound  to  act  equitably 
toward  each  other,  and  thus  order  was  preserved  among 
them.  For  some  time  this  female  corsair  maintained  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Chinese  seas,  insomuch  that  no  mer- 
chant-ships could  navigate  them  in  safety  without  a pass 
from  her,  which  she  granted  on  payment  of  a certain 
toll,  and  this  pass  protected  them  from  any  pirate  vessels 
they  might  encounter  on  their  passage.  At  length  dis- 
putes arose  among  the  pirate  captains,  and  the  female 
chieftain,  beginning  to  find  her  position  a difficult  one  .to 
maintain,  concluded  a regular  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
governor  of  Canton,  who  was  rewarded  by  government 
with  a peacock’s  feather,  the  usual  mark  of  distinction 
bestowed  on  a military  or  naval  commander  for  any 
eminent  service  rendered  to  the  state.  The  lady  with- 
drew from  the  conspicuous  situation  in  which  she  had 
placed  herself  to  live  in  retirement,  while  most  of  the 
pirates,  being  thus  left  without  a leader,  made  their 
peace  and  were  received  into  the  government. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  whole  country  was  in  a very 
unsettled  state.  The  province  of  Chih-li  was  overrun 
with  armed  bands,  composed  partly  of  those  who  had 
become  robbers  by  profession,  and  partly  of  native 
patriots,  who  joined  with  the  banditti  as  a means  of 
strengthening  their  force.  All  were  equally  terrible  to 
the  peaceful  inhabitants,  who  were  plundered  with  im- 
punity ; the  robbers  coming  in  such  numbers  as  to  in- 
timidate the  magistrates,  some  of  whom  were  possibly 
more  inclined  to  encourage  than  to  oppose  them.  Some 
of  these  patriots  profess  merely  an  anxiety  for  the  restor- 
ation of  a native  dynasty  as  the  best  means  of  promoting 
internal  tranquillity,  good  order  and  prosperity;  but 


THE  GREAT  K1EN-LUNG. 


325 


many  of  them  entertain  very  wild,  anarchical  and  com- 
munistic notions. 

In  the  year  1813  the  palace  at  Peking  was  suddenly 
attacked  by  a numerous  body  of  armed  men,  who  forced 
the  gates  and  rushed  into  the  great  hall,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  seizing  the  emperor  and  obliging  him  to  abdicate 
the  throne.  A similar  attempt  had  been  made  ten  years 
previously,  since  which  time  Kia-king  had  taken  care 
to  have  a strong  bodyguard  in  constant  attendance ; and 
besides  this  precaution  a double  guard  was  posted  at 
every  gate ; therefore  it  is  supposed  that  the  conspirators 
must  have  had  confederates  within  the  palace,  who  facil- 
itated their  entrance ; otherwise  there  must  have  been  a 
desperate  struggle  with  the  soldiers,  which  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  case.  A terrible  scene  of  con- 
fusion ensued.  The  princes  and  attendant  officers  sur- 
rounding their  sovereign  made  a gallant  defence ; and 
one  of  Kia-king’s  sons  had  the  good  fortune  to  save  his 
father’s  life  by  shooting  two  of  the  insurgents  who  were 
in  the  act  of  rushing  upon  the  emperor.  Much  blood 
was  shed  before  the  palace  was  cleared  of  the  assailants, 
who  were,  however,  at  length  dispersed,  and  the  insur- 
rection was  eventually  subdued.  Kia-king  named  as 
his  successor  the  prince  whose  timely  aid  had  preserved 
his  life. 

About  three  years  after  this  rebellion  another  em- 
bassy was  sent  by  the  British  government  to  the  court 
of  Peking,  to  complain  anew  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  trade  with  England  was  conducted  at  Canton.  The 
good  effect  produced  by  the  interference  of  Kien-lung 
had  been  but  temporary.  Lord  Amherst  was  the  am- 
bassador on  this  occasion.  On  the  arrival  of  the  em- 


326 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


bassy  at  Peking  the  old  dispute  relative  to  the  ko-tau, 
or  prostration  before  the  emperor,  ■vvas  revived,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  ambassador  was  so  entirely  misrepresented 
to  him  that  no  audience  was  granted ; and  thus  the  Eng- 
lish not  only  failed  in  obtaining  a redress  of  grievances, 
but  were  disappointed  of  seeing  the  sovereign.  It  has 
been  ascertained,  however,  that  the  agency  of  the  pro- 
vincial government  of  Canton  was  powerfully  exerted 
against  Lord  Amherst’s  embassy,  and  that  the  emperor 
subsequently  discovered,  with  much  regret,  the  insulting 
proceedings  of  his  ministers. 

One  grand  object  of  this  unsuccessful  embassy  had 
been,  as  before,  to  solicit  a restoration  of  the  privilege 
formerly  enjoyed  by  British  merchants  of  trading  to 
other  ports  besides  that  of  Canton — a privilege  now  ob- 
tained by  other  means,  and  not  likely  to  be  lost  again. 
All  European  trade,  as  already  stated,  had  been  re- 
stricted to  the  single  port  of  Canton  by  an  edict  of 
Kien-lung  in  the  year  1755,  when  it  was  ordered  that 
foreign  vessels  should  only  go  thither  at  a certain  season 
of  the  year,  and  not  remain  there  longer  than  a given 
time,  at  the  expiration  of  which  they  were  either  to  de- 
part entirely  or  withdraw  to  Macao ; and  this  arbitrary 
decree  had  never  been  revoked.  In  consequence  of  the 
ports  being  thus  closed  against  them,  the  British  mer- 
chants were  obliged  to  pay  for  the  transport  of  tea  from 
an  immense  distance,  by  which  its  price  was  consider- 
ably increased ; for  between  Canton  and  the  principal 
tea  districts  there  were  ranges  of  lofty  mountains  to  be 
crossed  and  shallow  rivers  to  be  navigated,  which  made 
the  carriage  of  goods  a difficult,  expensive  and  tedious 
process,  the  more  especially  as  chests  of  tea,  or  any 


THE  GREAT  KIEN-LUNG. 


327 


other  large  or  heavy  packages,  are  not  conveyed  over- 
land in  wagons  or  by  horses,  but  are  slung  on  bamboo 
poles  and  carried  by  men,  however  long  the  distance 
may  be.  The  boats  on  the  canals  and  many  of  the 
rivers  have  to  be  towed  or  tracked  by  ropes;  and  this 
labor  also,  which  in  most  countries  is  done  by  horses,  is 
in  China  performed  by  men ; so  that,  either  on  land  or 
water,  the  number  of  laborers  employed  in  the  transit  of 
merchandise  is  immense.  To  the  resistance  of  all  these 
interested  parties  in  the  interior  and  on  the  coast  has 
been  attributed  the  failure  of  the  embassy. 

The  death  of  Kia-king,  when  sixty-one  years  of  age, 
in  1820,  is  said  to  have  been  hastened  by  his  excesses,  and 
by  his  uneasiness  and  fear  on  learning,  during  a journey 
in  the  provinces,  the  sad  condition  to  which  the  empire 
had  fallen  during  his  reign.  There  were,  however, 
strong  suspicions  of  secret  assassination. 

The  emperor’s  will,  a very  singular  document,  was 
published  to  the  people.  In  it  was  this  passage : “ The 
Yellow  river  has  from  the  remotest  ages  been  China’s 
sorrow.  Whenever  the  mouth  of  the  stream  has  been 
impeded  by  sand-banks,  it  has,  higher  up  its  course, 
created  alarm  by  overflowing  the  country.  On  such 
occasions  I have  not  spared  the  imperial  treasury  to 
embank  the  river  and  restore  the  waters  to  their  former 
channel.  Since  a former  repair  of  the  river  was  com- 
pleted, six  or  seven  years  of  tranquillity  had  elapsed, 
when  last  year,  in  the  autumn,  the  excessive  rains  caused 
an  unusual  rise  of  the  water,  and  in  Ho-nan  the  river 
burst  its  banks  at  several  points,  both  on  the  south  and 
north  sides.  The  stream  Wu-chi  forced  a passage  to 
the  sea,  and  the  mischief  done  was  immense.  During 


328 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  spring  of  this  year,  just  as  those  who  conducted  the 
repair  of  the  banks  had  reported  that  the  work  was  fin- 
ished, the  southern  bank  at  I-fung  again  gave  way.” 
The  mention  of  this  subject  in  the  emperor’s  will  is  a 
sufficient  proof  of  its  importance.  If  the  science  of  Eu- 
ropean engineers  could  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  evil, 
it  would  be  the  most  important  physical  benefit  that  was 
ever  conferred  on  the  empire.  Even  the  European 
trade  at  Canton  was  annually  taxed  to  meet  the  .repairs 
of  the  Yellow  river. 

“The  emperor’s  will,”  says  Sir  J.  F. Davis,  “proceeds 
to  state  the  merits  of  his  second  son,  the  late  sovereign, 
Tau-kwang,  in  having  shot  two  of  the  assassins  who  en- 
tered the  palace  in  1813,  which  was  the  reason  of  his 
selection.  It  has  been  even  supposed  that  Kia-king’s 
death  was  hastened  by  some  discontented  persons  of  high 
rank,  who  had  been  lately  disgraced  in  consequence  of 
the  mysterious  loss  of  an  official  seal.  The  emperor’s 
death  was  announced  to  the  several  provinces  by  de- 
spatches written  with  blue  ink,  the  mourning  color.  All 
persons  of  condition  were  required  to  take  the  red  silk 
ornament  from  their  caps,  with  the  ball  or  button  of 
rank;  all  subjects  of  China,  without  exception,  were 
called  upon  to  forbear  from  shaving  their  heads  for  one 
hundred  days,  within  which  period  none  might  marry, 
or  play  on  musical  instruments,  or  perform  any  sacrifice.” 
Kia-king  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son,  Tau-kwang. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 

rTHE  emperor  Tau-kwang,  whose  name  signifies  “Light 
of  Reason,”  ascended  the  throne  in  the  year  1820 ; 
and  if  he  possessed  not  the  wisdom  and  talents  of  his 
grandfather,  Kien-lung,  he  endeavored  to  maintain  the 
dignity  of  his  exalted  station,  and  was  consequently  more 
respected  than  his  predecessor,  the  weak-minded  and 
vicious  Kia-king. 

The  distant  Tartar  tribes  have  always  been  found  very 
troublesome  dependants,  and  no  sooner  was  Tau-kwang 
seated  on  the  throne  than  a serious  insurrection  broke 
out  in  the  western  territories,  which  had  been  annexed 
to  the  empire  by  Kien-lung.  Kashgar  was  one  of  the 
chief  scenes  of  the  revolt,  which,  after  a struggle  of  sev- 
eral years,  was  at  length  suppressed  by  the  Manchu  im- 
perial troops,  who  are  said  to  have  been  guilty  of  dread- 
ful barbarity  toward  the  insurgents. 

Peace  was  scarcely  restored  in  the  west  when  the 
internal  repose  of  the  country  was  disturbed  by  another 
rebellion  of  the  Miau-tsz.  The  cause  of  this  fresh  out- 
break does  not  appear  to  be  known,  but  they  poured 
down  in  great  numbers  from  their  native  hills,  under  the 
command  of  a chieftain  who  assumed  the  name  of  Wang, 
or  king,  and  not  only  displayed  the  imperial  ensign  of 

329 


330 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  golden  dragon,  but  wore  a yellow  robe,  which  is  a 
direct  assumption  of  the  imperial  dignity.  All  the 
mountain  tribes,  each  governed  by  a separate  chief,  en- 
listed under  the  banner  of  this  daring  leader  and  de- 
scended to  the  plains,  where  they  defeated  the  imperial 
troops  and  possessed  themselves  of  four  towns,  from 
which  they  expelled  the  soldiers  and  mandarins,  but  did 
not  injure  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants,  declaring  by  a 
public  proclamation  that  they  were  not  the  enemies  of 
the  people,  but  of  the  government.  By  the  spring  of 
1832  they  had  established  themselves  in  the  country  to 
the  north-west  of  Canton,  holding  a number  of  walled 
cities,  and  treating  the  industrious  portion  of  the  inhabit- 
ants with  great  kindness.  At  this  time  it  was  rather 
more  than  suspected  that  a good  many  members  of  the 
“ Triad  Society,”  whose  object  is  the  emancipation  of  the 
Chinese  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Tartars,  had  got  among 
the  mountaineers  and  were  directing  their  measures  and 
movements.  Li,  the  governor  of  Canton,  received  orders 
from  Peking  to  put  an  end  to  the  rebellion ; and  with 
that  view  he  assembled  what  he  supposed  would  be  a 
sufficient  force  to  defeat  them,  but  they  were  more  for- 
midable than  he  had  expected,  and  his  army  was  repulsed 
with  great  loss ; in  consequence  of  which  misfortune  he 
was  degraded  and  deprived  of  his  government,  for  the 
spirit  of  the  law  is  that  if  a general  is  commanded  to 
conquer  he  ought  to  obey.  Another  officer,  the  governor 
of  Ho-nan,  met  with  better  success,  and  having  retaken 
one  of  the  towns  occupied  by  the  mountain  bands,  was 
rewarded  with  a peacock’s  feather,  which  is  the  highest 
badge  of  military  distinction  known  among  the  Tartars. 
Still  the  rebellion  was  not  terminated,  and  the  Miau-tsz 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


331 


lield  out  with  determined  obstinacy  for  nearly  six  years, 
when  in  1838  two  imperial  commissioners  were  sent  from 
Peking  to  treat  with  them  upon  amicable  terms,  and  in- 
duced them  to  return  quietly  to  their  homes — by  what 
means  is  not  exactly  known,  although  it  is  suspected 
large  presents  were  not  spared.  It  was  then  publicly 
announced  that  the  rebels  had  been  obliged  to  make  the 
most  humble  submission;  but  as  they  are  as  independent 
now  as  they  were  before,  it  is  quite  evident  they  were 
rather  appeased  than  subdued,  and,  if  they  really  were 
bribed  to  withdraw,  will  most  probably  repeat  the  same 
profitable  experiment.  About  the  same  period  there  was 
also  an  insurrection  in  the  island  of  Formosa,  which  was 
successfully  quelled  by  the  government. 

In  1838  a war  broke  out  of  a totally  different  nature 
from  any  that  had  yet  disturbed  the  Celestial  Empire. 
The  commercial  intercourse  between  England  and  China 
had  been  carried  on  through  the  East  India  Company, 
and  so  it  continued  till  the  year  1833,  when  the  term 
of  its  last  charter  expired,  and  all  British  subjects  were 
equally  at  liberty  to  send  out  ships  to  China  for  tea  and 
other  produce  of  that  country,  which  till  then  had  never 
been  exported  by  any  vessels  but  those  belonging  to 
the  privileged  company.  Independent  merchants  were 
less  watchful  against  creating  trouble  with  the  Chinese, 
and  less  honest  and  less  responsible  in  their  dealings 
with  them  than  the  company.  Troubles  sprang  up, 
and  mutual  suspicion  and  hatred  increased  between  the 
two  nations.  But  the  great  cause  of  the  war  was  the 
fearful  evils  inflicted  upon  the  Chinese,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest,  by  the  growth  and  illegal  introduction  of 
opium.  The  company  had  carried  on  an  extensive  trade 


332 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


in  this  drug.  The  consumption  of  the  narcotic  had  be- 
come enormous.  Sir  John  F.  Davis  says,  “The  engross- 
ing taste  of  all  ranks  and  degrees  in  China  for  opium,  a 
drug  whose  importation  has  of  late  years  exceeded  the 
aggregate  value  of  all  other  English  imports  combined, 
deserves  particular  notice,  especially  in  connection  with 
the  revenues  of  British  India,  of  which  it  forms  an  im- 
portant item.  The  use  of  this  pernicious  narcotic  has 
become  as  extensive  as  the  increasing  demand  for  it  was 
rapid  from  the  first.”  The  trade  was  contraband,  for 
opium  had  always  been  prohibited  as  hurtful  to  the 
health  and  morals  of  the  people.  Yet  the  quantity  im- 
ported into  China  had  increased  more  than  fivefold  in 
twelve  years.1 

This  had  the  effect  of  drawing  the  serious  attention  of 
the  Peking  government  to  the  growing  evil.  Decrees 
were  fulminated  by  the  imperial  court  against  all  smok- 
ers, venders  or  purchasers  of  opium.  They  were  to  be 
beaten  with  a hundred  strokes  of  the  bamboo,  to  stand 
in  the  pillory  and  to  receive  other  punishments.  An 
imperial  state  jiaper  says,  “It  seems  that  opium  is  almost 
entirely  imported  from  abroad:  worthless  subordinates 
in  offices  and  nefarious  traders  first  introduced  the 
abuse ; young  persons  of  family,  wealthy  citizens  and 
merchants  adopted  the  custom,  until  at  last  it  reached 
the  common  people.” 

The  denunciation  might  have  been  made  far  more 

1 This  will  be  made  manifest  by  the  following  statement : 


Year. 

Chests. 

Dollars. 

Total  dollars. 

1821 

4,628 

Average  price, 

1325 

6,132,100 

1825 

9,621 

M 

723 

6,955,983 

1830 

18,760 

tt 

587 

11,012,120 

1832 

23,670 

a 

648 

15,338,160 

TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


333 


general.  The  highest  prince  of  the  blood  smoked  his 
opium  pipe,  and  so  did  the  poorest  peasant  when  he 
could  get  it.  At  Canton  and  all  the  frequented  seaport 
towns  there  were  public  houses  exclusively  devoted  to 
opium-smoking;  at  Peking,  in  the  very  palace,  the 
ladies  of  the  imperial  harem  and  their  emasculated  at- 
tendants smoked  opium,  and  would  not  be  without  it. 
In  the  year  1833  opium  formed  about  one-half  of  the 
total  value  of  British  imports  at  Canton  and  Lintin, 
and  the  amount  of  the  opium  imported  by  that  nation 
was  greater  than  that  of  the  tea  exported  by  the 
Chinese.1 

In  the  spring  of  1834,  when  the  British  free-trad- 
ing ships  began  to  arrive  and  take  in  cargoes  of  tea 
at  Canton,  there  was  a visible  increase  in  the  sale  of 
opium.  That  drug  was  also  partly  supplied  by  Ameri- 
can and  other  ships.  The  long  series  of  quarrels  which 
led  to  the  war  between  England  and  China  did  not,  how- 
ever, spring  from  opium  alone.  Many  grievances  in  the 
way  of  trade  were  complained  of  before  the  issuing  of 
the  new  regulations.  In  July,  1834,  Lord  Napier,  chief 
superintendent  of  British  commerce  in  China,  John  F. 
Davis,  Esq.,  and  Sir  G.  B.  Bobinson,  second  and  third 
superintendents,  arrived  at  Canton,  their  appointments 
having  been  made  by  the  British  government  of  that 
period,  and  their  instructions  principally  drawn  up  by 
Viscount  Palmerston,  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  who 
appears  to  have  entertained  very  incorrect  notions  as  to 


1 The  following  were  the  exports  and  imports  for  that  year : 


Imports. 

Opium $11,618,167 

Other  imports 11,858,077 

$23,476,244 


Exports. 

Tea $9,133,749 

Other  exports 11,309,521 

$20,443,270 


334 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tlie  facility  of  extending  foreign  trade  to  other  parts  of 
the  Chinese  dominion,  and  as  to  the  respect  which  would 
be  paid  to  representatives  of  his  government.  Lord 
Napier  was  not  treated  with  the  respect  which  the  au- 
thorities had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  experienced 
agents  of  the  East  India  Company.  An  edict  was  is- 
sued commanding  his  lordship  to  return  to  Macao,  and 
threatening  to  stop  the  trade.  As  the  superintendent 
would  not  move,  the  trade  was  stopped  on  the  second  of 
September,  and  all  intercourse  with  British  subjects  pro- 
hibited. Lord  Napier  immediately  called  up  two  Brit- 
ish frigates  to  protect  the  shipping  and  persons  of 
British  subjects.  These  vessels,  the  Andromache  and 
Imogene,  were  fired  upon  by  the  Chinese  in  their  pass- 
age through  the  Bogue;  but  they  soon  silenced  those 
batteries,  got  near  to  Canton  and  landed  some  sailors 
and  marines  at  the  factory.  The  Chinese  made  over- 
tures for  an  accommodation.  At  this  point,  Lord  Napier, 
affected  by  a sultry  climate  to  which  he  was  not  accus- 
tomed, and  by  the  delays  and  vexations  to  which  he  had 
been  exposed,  fell  very  ill.  On  the  19tli  of  September 
it  was  agreed  that  the  two  frigates  should  be  sent  away, 
that  he  should  return  to  Macao  and  that  the  trade 
should  be  reopened.  On  the  21st  the  frigates  were  or- 
dered to  leave  the  river,  and  his  lordship  left  Canton  for 
Macao  in  a native  passage-boat  provided  by  the  Chinese 
authorities.  The  Chinese  regarded  him  as  a prisoner, 
and  detained  him  five  days  on  a journey  of  less  than  a 
hundred  miles.  The  sufferings  and  annoyances  he  ex- 
perienced on  his  passage  down  were  too  much  for  his 
debilitated  frame,  and  he  died  at  Macao  a fortnight  after 
his  arrival  there,  and  just  three  months  since  his  land- 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


335 


ing  in  China.  The  Chinese  officers  seized  several  work- 
men who  were  in  the  employment  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries and  engaged  in  printing  religious  tracts,  and, 
having  severely  bamhooed  them,  dragged  them  to  a 
filthy  prison. 

Lord  Napier  was  succeeded  by  John  F.  Davis,  Esq., 
with  Captain  Eliot  for  secretary.  About  a month  after 
this  (in  November,  1834)  an  imperial  mandate  utterly 
forbade  all  traffic  in  opium.  Shortly  afterward,  part  of 
the  crew  of  the  English  ship  Argyle,  which  had  anchored 
on  the  coast  of  China  in  consequence  of  damage  at  sea, 
were  seized  by  the  local  authorities  and  kept  as  prison- 
ers ; and  when  Captain  Eliot,  now  third  superintendent, 
went  up  to  Canton  to  demand  their  restoration,  he  was 
grossly  assaulted  by  the  authorities  there  and  forcibly 
sent  back.  In  a few  days,  however,  the  sailors  were  re- 
stored. The  years  1836-39  were  almost  filled  up  with 
disputes  and  quarrels,  arising  from  the  confused  state  of 
affairs,  and  from  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  English  to 
force  opium  into  the  accessible  ports  and  harbors,  par- 
ticularly along  the  southern  coast.  There  continued  to 
grow  up  a stupendous  system  of  smuggling,  in  which 
many  of  the  Chinese  officers  were  involved,  and  which 
those  who  sincerely  deplored  and  resisted  it  were  utterly 
unable  to  control. 

The  factories  belonging  to  the  merchants  of  Europe 
and  America  occupy  a small  space  along  the  banks  of 
the  river,  outside  the  walls  of  the  city.  There  were  at 
that  time  the  British,  American,  French,  Dutch,  Austrian, 
Danish  and  Swedish ; each  consisting  of  several  brick  or 
stone  edifices,  built  along  the  side  of  an  open  space  of 
inconsiderable  dimensions.  Three  streets  in  the  suburbs, 


336 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


leading  from  these  factories,  contained  the  shops  where 
foreigners  purchased  all  they  required  for  their  own  use, 
for  they  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the  town.  Within 
these  narrow  limits  they  were  now  closely  confined,  their 
lives  being  in  danger  if  they  ventured  beyond  them ; 
and  on  one  occasion  a mob  invaded  their  limits  and  a 
serious  fight  ensued. 

In  January,  1839,  the  government  sent  the  police  to 
search  the  native  houses  of  Canton  and  seize  opium 
wherever  found.  This  led  to  a curious  scene,  highly 
characteristic  of  the  democratic  character  of  the  Chinese 
institutions  and  the  independence  of  the  people.  The 
people  would  not  allow  the  search  to  begin  until  they 
had  first  searched  the  policemen,  who  were  generally 
known  as  the  greatest  opium-smokers  in  the  city.  A 
few  days  after  this  the  Canton  authorities  caused  a 
native  opium-smuggler  to  be  executed  in  front  of  the 
factories,  whereupon  all  the  foreign  flags  were  immedi- 
ately struck.  The  governor  took  no  notice  of  a remon- 
strance addressed  to  him  by  Captain  Eliot. 

A week  after  these  occurrences  the  celebrated  Com- 
missioner Lin  arrived  from  court,  vested  with  the  most 
absolute  powers  that  were  ever  delegated  by  the  em- 
peror. "When  he  arrived  at  Canton  there  were  several 
British  ships  in  the  river,  having  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  chests  of  opium  on  board.  These  he  de- 
manded should  be  given  up  without  delay,  to  be  de- 
stroyed. He  blockaded  the  factories,  and  even  threat- 
ened to  put  the  occupants  to  death ; on  which  the  British 
superintendent — Captain  Eliot — deemed  it  advisable  to 
agree  to  the  surrender  of  the  opium,  in  order  to  secure 
the  safety  of  his  countrymen.  Several  weeks  were 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


337 


occupied  in  tlie  landing  of  the  forfeited  drug,  during 
which  the  merchants  were  still  detained  in  the  fac- 
tories; but  as  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  all  the 
chests  had  been  brought  on  shore,  the  troops  were  with- 
drawn and  the  captives  left  at  liberty  to  depart. 

In  the  mean  time  the  commissioner  had  sent  to  Peking 
for  instructions  how  to  dispose  of  the  property  he  had 
seized,  and  received  the  following  order,  in  the  name  of 
the  emperor : “ Lin  and  his  colleagues  are  to  assemble 
the  civil  and  military  officers  and  destroy  the  opium, 
before  their  eyes ; thus  manifesting  to  the  natives  dwell- 
ing on  the  sea-coast  and  the  foreigners  of  the  outside 
nations  an  awful  warning.  Respect  this.  Obey  re- 
spectfully.” In  obedience  to  this  command,  on  the 
3d  of  June,  1839,  the  high  commissioner,  accompanied 
by  all  the  officers,  proceeded  to  Chan-hau,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  where  large  trenches  had  been  dug, 
into  which  the  opium  was  thrown,  with  a quantity  of 
quicklime,  salt  and  water,  so  that  it  was  decomposed 
and  the  mixture  ran  into  the  sea.  The  operations  for 
destroying  the  drug  continued  about  twenty  days,  and 
were  witnessed  on  the  16th  by  several  English  mer- 
chants, who  had  an  interview  with  Commissioner  Lin. 
The  market  value  of  the  property  at  the  time  was  about 
twelve  millions  of  Spanish  dollars. 

Some  days  before  this  transaction  the  British  mer- 
chants had  retired  to  Macao.  This  settlement  still  be- 
longs to  the  Portuguese,  who  have  their  own  govern- 
ment and  the  privilege  of  trying  any  offender  by  their 
own  laws,  even  though  he  be  a Chinese.  They  have 
forts  garrisoned  by  about  four  hundred  men,  some  fine 

churches,  a monastery  and  a convent  for  nuns.  The 
22 


338 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Portuguese  employ  a great  many  black  slaves  as  servants, 
but  all  the  mechanics  and  workmen  of  every  description, 
as  well  as  the  shopkeepers,  are  Chinese.  The  houses  are 
built  in  the  European  style,  and  there  a considerable 
number  of  English  families  were  residing  at  the  time. 

Soon  after  the  British  merchants  had  removed  from 
Canton  to  Macao,  it  happened  that  some  English,  Amer- 
ican and  Chinese  sailors  quarreled  in  the  street,  and  that 
one  of  the  latter  was  accidentally  killed  by  a random 
blow.  When  the  governor  of  Canton  was  informed  of 
this  unfortunate  circumstance,  he  demanded  that  the  cul- 
prits should  be  given  up  to  justice,  but  as  the  Portuguese 
territory  is  not  amenable  to  Chinese  law,  they  of  course 
refused  to  comply ; however,  a very  short  time  after,  the 
English  and  American  seamen  were  tried  by  their  own 
laws  at  Hong-kong,  when  they  were  acquitted  of  the 
murder,  but  five  of  them  were  found  guilty  of  riot  and 
sentenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment,  with  hard  labor. 
The  governor  now  gave  orders  that  provisions  should  no 
longer  be  supplied  to  the  English  at  Macao,  on  which 
Captain  Eliot  removed  the  whole  fleet  to  Hong-kong,  a 
rocky  island  about  thirty-five  miles  to  the  east  of  that 
settlement,  inhabited  at  that  time  chiefly  by  fishermen, 
but  which  has  now  become  an  English  settlement,  with  a 
good  town,  built  by  its  new  occupants.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  British  superintendent  had  written  to  Lord 
Auckland,  the  governor-general  of  India,  requesting 
vessels  and  men  to  assist  in  protecting  the  lives  and 
property  of  British  subjects  in  China,  and  thus,  toward 
the  close  of  1839,  the  clouds  of  war  were  gathering 
rapidly  over  the  Celestial  Empire. 

The  High-Commissioner  Lin  no  sooner  became  aware 


I 


TATJ-KWANO  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR.  339 

that  the  British  fleet  had  removed  to  Hong-kong  than 
he  issued  a decree  that  all  trade  between  the  English 
and  the  Chinese  should  be  suspended  until  the  former 
had  given  a bond  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  empire,  signed 
with  the  names  of  all  the  owners  of  vessels  engaged  in 
the  opium  trade,  as  well  as  that  of  the  superintendent. 
For  a time,  therefore,  the  trade  was  suspended,  and  the 
English  ships  remained  in  Hong-kong  harbor,  while  the 
Chinese  fleet  was  preparing  to  make  an  attack  on  them. 

Hong-kong  is  one  of  a group  of  small  rocky  islands 
which  are  so  numerous  round  the  coast  of  China  that  one 
of  the  titles  given  the  emperor  is,  “ Lord  of  Ten  Thou- 
sand Isles.”  The  inhabitants  were  mostly  poor  fisher- 
men, living  on  the  sea-shore,  in  wooden  sheds,  and  some 
in  huts  of  a rude  character,  made  of  old  junks  and 
worn-out  boats.  It  is  not  more  than  eight  miles  in 
length  and  five  in  breadth,  exhibiting  to  the  eye  on  the 
first  approach  a mass  of  steep  rugged  rocks,  among  which, 
however,  are  found  a few  fertile  spots,  where  rice  is  cul- 
tivated ; and  the  inhabitants  enjoy  the  luxury  of  plenty 
of  good  water,  which  in  many  other  Chinese  islands 
is  very  scarce.  The  island  abounds  in  granite,  which 
many  of  the  inhabitants  are  employed  in  hewing  for 
exportation. 

A number  of  British  merchant  vessels  having  col- 
lected below  the  mouth  of  the  river,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  two  British  frigates — the  Yolage  and  the  Hya- 
cinth— Lin  sent  Admiral  Kwan  to  attack  them.  On 
the  3d  of  November,  Kwan  went  through  the  Bocca 
Tigris  or  Bogue  passage,  and  with  sixteen  war-junks 
gave  battle.  The  frigates  beat  him  off  with  great  loss ; 
one  of  his  junks  was  blown  up,  three  were  sunk,  and 


340 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  rest  shattered  and  scattered.  This  defeat  was  a 
serious  blow  to  the  authorities  at  Canton,  who  had 
placed  great  dependence  on  the  admiral.  Lin  and  his 
coadjutors  exerted  themselves  to  strengthen  the  fleet,  by 
building  a number  of  gunboats  of  larger  size  and  supe- 
rior in  construction  to  the  generality  of  the  war-junks, 
which  were  little  different  from  the  trading  vessels. 
Nothing  of  special  importance  occurred  till  the  month 
of  June,  when  an  armament  arrived  from  India,  under 
the  command  of  Sir  Gordon  Bremer,  which  joined  the 
British  ships  already  assembled.  There  was  a bold 
attempt  made  by  the  Chinese  to  destroy  the  whole  fleet, 
by  sending  fire-ships  into  the  midst  of  it,  which  failed. 

Lin  and  the  war  party  placed  great  confidence  in  the 
valor  of  their  troops,  which  began  to  collect  in  large 
numbers,  but  in  truth  the  Chinese  army  was  not  fitted 
to  resist  the  European  soldiery. 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  the  entire  force  under 
the  command  of  the  government,  including  both  the 
native  troops  and  the  Tartar  legions,  amounts  to  eight 
hundred  thousand  men,  who  are  ranged  under  eight  ban- 
ners, and  must  always  be  ready  for  duty.  Their  colors 
are  yellow,  white,  red  and  blue,  which,  variously  bordered, 
form  eight  different  standards.  The  Tartar  soldiers  are 
more  effective  than  the  Chinese,  as  they  are  warlike  by 
nature,  trained  to  arms  and  regularly  organized ; where- 
as the  Chinese  merely  constitute  a militia,  as  they  dwell 
at  their  own  homes,  clothe  and  arm  themselves  according 
to  their  own  fancy,  and  are  very  seldom  required  for 
actual  service.  Their  chief  duty,  as  military  men,  is  to 
act  as  police  in  the  cities ; and  in  case  of  any  local  dis- 
turbances or  rebellions  of  the  mountaineers,  they  are 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


341 


obliged  to  take  the  field ; but,  in  general,  they  spend  tbe 
greater  part  of  the  year  with  their  families,  engaged  in 
cultivating  the  land  ; and  as  they  receive  pay  from  the 
government,  every  countryman  is  desirous  of  being  en- 
rolled as  a soldier  for  the  sake  of  increasing  his  means 
of  subsistence. 

Instead  of  striking  Canton,  however,  Sir  Gordon 
Bremer  established  the  blockade  of  the  river,  and  car- 
ried the  British  fleet  northward,  on  the  east  coast  of 
China.  He  had  fifteen  men-of-war,  four  war  steamers 
and  four  thousand  land  troops. 

The  first  conquest  made  by  the  English,  on  the  5th 
of  July,  1840,  was  that  of  Chu-san — a fine  island,  about 
fifty  miles  in  circumference,  containing  a dense  popula- 
tion, and  situated  near  the  eastern  coast  of  China. 
Tinghai,  the  capital,  is  a large  city  standing  in  a plain 
not  far  from  the  sea.  Its  high  blue  walls  are  fortified 
by  twenty-two  square  towers,  together  with  a wide 
moat,  which  runs  nearly  round  the  town’;  but  these  de- 
fences were  of  little  use  without  artillery  and  soldiers, 
with  which  Tinghai  was  but  ill  supplied;  so  that  the 
English  took  possession  of  it  without  any  difficulty. 

The  flight  of  the  inhabitants  from  Tinghai  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  plunder  of  all  the  houses  and  shops  in 
which  any  property  had  been  left — not  by  the  invaders 
alone,  but  by  the  poorer  class  of  Chinese.  The  pres- 
ence of  the  English  did  not  deter  the  pilferers  from 
crowding  into  the  town  and  carrying  off  whatever  they 
could  seize,  till  these  depredations  were  in  some  measure 
checked  by  the  British  officers,  who  posted  sentinels  at 
the  gates  to  prevent  anything  being  taken  out,  except 
coffins  for  interment.  These  were  suffered  to  pass  with- 


342 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


out  question,  until  their  numbers  began  to  excite  atten- 
tion ; when  they  were  examined,  and,  as  had  been  sus- 
pected, found  to  contain  all  kinds  of  goods  that  could  be 
put  into  them.  The  English  encouraged  many  of  the 
citizens  to  return  and  reopen  their  shops,  while  the 
country  people  supplied  them  plentifully  with  pro- 
visions ; but  the  climate  was  found  unhealthy  for  the 
British  troops,  many  of  whom  died  there,  owing,  it  is 
supposed,  to  the  dampness  of  the  flat  lands,  which 
are  always  so  wet  that  the  fields  can  only  be  crossed 
by  the  narrow  paved  causeways  constructed  for  that 
purpose. 

On  the  19th  of  August  the  ships  Hyacinth  and 
Larne  attacked  a great  Chinese  force  and  batteries  at 
the  Macao  barrier,  destroying  guns,  taking  the  camp 
and  killing  about  sixty  soldiers.  The  men  threw  the 
blame  of  their  quick  and  scandalous  flight  on  the  cow- 
ardice of  the  officers,  who  were  the  first  to  run  away. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  an  imposing  fleet  anchored  off 
Takoo,  near  the  entrance  of  the  Pei-ho  river,  at  the  North. 
Captain  Eliot  ascended  the  Pei-ho  in  a steamer  as  far 
as  the  town  of  Tien-tsin,  where  he  entered  into  tedious 
negotiations  with  Ki-shen,  the  viceroy  of  the  province, 
who  had  just  been  appointed  imperial  high  commissioner. 
The  grand  object  of  this  acute  negotiator  was  to  get  the 
British  force  removed  from  the  vicinity  of  Peking,  to 
which  city  the  distance  by  land  was  only  one  hundred 
miles.  During  the  protracted  conferences  the  admiral 
profited  by  the  time  to  sail  farther  northward,  and  to 
visit  the  extremity  of  the  Great  Wall  where  it  passes 
toward  the  sea.  “ As  if  in  mockery  of  all  natural  ob- 
stacles, this  gigantic  barrier,  between  twenty  and  thirty 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


343 


feet  in  height  and  twenty  feet  broad,  displays  itself  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  traversing  the  very  tops  of  the 
mountains,  some  of  them  computed  at  three  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea’s  level,  and  those  farther  inland  much 
higher.”1 

It  was  at  length  agreed  that  the  negotiations  should 
be  removed  to  Canton,  and  that  the  commissioners  should 
be  sent  to  that  city  to  meet  Ki-shen,  the  very  same  min- 
ister with  whom  they  had  been  so  idly  conferring  on  the 
Pei-lio. 

The  fleet  once  removed  from  the  Pei-ho,  the  Chinese 
knew  that  the  course  of  the  monsoon  would  prevent  its 
returning  thither  for  another  year,  or  at  least  for  eight 
months.  The  English  barbarians  had  approached  the 
capital  of  the  Celestial  Empire  to  present  a respectful 
and  obedient  petition  ; they  had  been  compelled  to  retire, 
and  they  all  merited  extermination.  So  ran  various 
proclamations  written  with  “ the  vermilion  pencil.” 

Captain  Eliot  continued  to  treat  with  Ki-shen;  but  on 
the  6th  of  January,  1841,  an  edict  was  issued  from  Pe- 
king that  all  English  ships  and  Englishmen  should  be 
destroyed  wherever  they  should  be  met  with  near  China. 
At  the  same  time  high  rewards  were  offered  by  the  Can- 
ton authorities  for  the  bodies  of  Englishmen,  dead  or 
alive.  The  price  put  upon  the  commodore  and  the  other 
chiefs  was  fifty  thousand  dollars  apiece,  if  taken  alive ; 
for  their  heads,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  Commodore  Sir  Gordon  Bremer  moved  his 
forces,  and  on  the  7th  of  January  attacked  and  reduced 
the  forts  of  Chuen-pi  and  Tai-kok-tau,  near  the  Bogue, 
capturing  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  Chinese  guns. 

1 Sir  J.  F.  Davis,  Sketches  of  China. 


344 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Above  these  forts  the  river  expands  considerably  in 
width,  being  in  some  places  five  or  six  miles  broad,  but 
toward  Whampoa  it  again  becomes  narrow,  and  a little 
below  that  village  divides  itself  into  two  branches,  from 
which  numerous  streams  and  canals  run  in  all  directions 
through  many  miles  of  paddy-fields. 

On  the  26th  of  February  all  the  Bogue  forts  were 
battered  and  taken.  Poor  Admiral  Kwan  was  killed  at 
his  post,  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  guns  were  cap- 
tured. There  was  a very  strong  Chinese  force  on  the  hills 
behind  the  forts,  but  they  ran  away  in  a panic  as  soon 
as  the  batteries  were  taken.  Many  lost  their  lives  in  at- 
tempting to  swim  across  the  river ; and  of  the  thousand 
men  probably  who  did  not  escape  on  this  day,  nearly 
every  one  met  his  death. 

The  cruelty  of  the  British  in  shooting  the  poor  men  as 
they  vainly  endeavored  to  escape  in  the  water  is  spoken 
of  among  the  Chinese  with  deep  indignation.  Those 
who  had  fought  for  a short  time  in  the  batteries  were  cov- 
ered by  very  strong  walls,  and  suffered  little  loss  there. 

On  the  morrow  the  smaller  ships  were  moved  up  to 
the  first  bar.  Here  were  found  a long  fortification  on 
the  river  bank,  an  entrenched  camp  of  over  three  thou- 
sand troops,  defended  by  more  than  one  hundred  can- 
non, and  a strong  raft  thrown  across  the  river  from  bank 
to  bank.  The  ships  and  steamers  knocked  the  batteries 
to  pieces,  and  some  British  troops  and  Sepoys  being 
landed,  drove  the  enemy  before  them,  burned  the  camp 
and  removed  or  destroyed  all  the  stores,  and  then  the 
steamers  leisurely  removed  the  great  raft.  In  this  affair 
some  of  the  imperial  troops  displayed  considerable  cour- 
age ; but,  with  their  wretched  discipline,  the  best  of 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


345 


them  could  not  stand  even  before  the  Sepoys.  By  the 
1st  of  March  the  lighter  part  of  the  squadron  pro- 
ceeded up  the  river  to  Canton,  and  on  the  following  day 
Sir  Hugh  Gough  arrived  to  take  the  command  of  the 
forces.  On  the  6th  a proclamation  was  issued  to  the 
people  of  Canton,  offering  to  spare  the  city  from  bom- 
bardment on  condition  of  the  population  remaining 
quiet.  The  Chinese  having  fired  upon  a flag  of  truce, 
the  British  forces  destroyed  a fleet  of  their  junks  and 
boats,  took  possession  of  some  of  the  suburbs  of  Canton 
and  captured  four  hundred  and  sixty  more  guns.  At 
this  juncture,  Ki-shen,  degraded  and  deprived  of  his 
office,  was  removed  as  a state  prisoner  from  Canton. 

A new  imperial  commissioner  arrived  at  Canton,  and 
hosts  of  troops  from  the  interior  marched  to  the  coast. 
Captain  Eliot,  for  the  third  time,  prepared  to  attack 
Canton.  While  so  doing  the  ships  were  attacked  by 
the  Chinese  with  great  guns  and  fire-rafts,  which,  how- 
ever, were  speedily  disposed  of.  The  Nemesis  burned 
upward  of  sixty  of  the  fire-rafts,  and  some  small  ships 
of  war  silenced  the  batteries  along  shore.  Three  days 
after  this  (on  the  24th  of  May,  1841)  the  British  forces 
commenced  operations  in  earnest  against  Canton.  On 
the  morning  of  the  25th,  Sir  Hugh  Gough,  with  about 
twenty-five  hundred  men  and  his  artillery,  moved  toward 
the  forts  and  camps  on  heights  behind,  the  city,  distant 
about  three  miles.  After  firing  at  long  shots  about  half 
an  hour,  the  Chinese  in  immense  numbers  evacuated 
forts  and  camps,  leaving  ninety  guns  behind  them.  The 
British  troops  burned  the  camps,  occupied  the  heights 
and  bivouacked  there  for  the  night.  With  much  reluc- 
tance, on  the  27th  of  May,  when  everything  was  in 


346 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


readiness  for  opening  the  fire,  the  authorities  of  Canton 
agreed  to  pay  six  millions  of  dollars  for  the  ransom  of 
the  city.  Four  days  after  this  five  millions  were  paid, 
security  was  given  for  the  remainder,  and  the  British 
forces  withdrew  from  Canton.  Ferocious  conflicts  took 
place  within  the  city  between  the  lawless  troops  from  the 
interior  and  the  citizens,  the  soldiers  wanting  to  plunder 
and  the  citizens  defending  their  property.  It  is  stated 
that  in  one  of  these  affrays  more  than  a thousand  per- 
sons were  killed  in  the  streets. 

Sir  Henry  Pottinger  arrived  on  the  10th  of  August, 
1841,  at  Macao,  as  sole  plenipotentiary  of  Her  Britannic 
Majesty.  Before  his  arrival  trade  with  Canton  was  fully 
reopened,  and  opium  was  smuggled  more  abundantly 
and  more  openly  than  ever.  The  court  of  Peking  had 
not  ceased  levying  troops  to  prosecute  the  war.  The  new 
British  negotiator  adopted  a different  line  of  conduct 
from  that  pursued  by  his  predecessor,  giving  the  Chinese 
authorities  to  understand  that  they  must  either  accede  to 
all  the  demands  of  the  British  government,  or  expect 
that  very  decided  steps  would  be  taken  to  force  them 
into  compliance.  Not  only  did  he  require  payment  for 
the  opium,  but  that  other  ports  besides  that  of  Canton 
should  be  opened  to  British  trade;  and  he  resolved  not 
to  terminate  the  war  on  any  other  conditions. 

An  expedition  was  immediately  undertaken  against 
Amoy,  a strongly-fortified  city  and  port  in  an  island  of 
the  same  name  belonging  to  the  province  of  Fu-kien, 
and  situated  within  a spacious  bay  about  halfway  be- 
tween Canton  and  Chu-san.  The  town  is  large  and  pop- 
ulous, defended  by  stone  walls  and  batteries,  and  has 
from  time  immemorial  been  a place  of  great  trade,  its 


TAU-KWANO  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


347 


merchants  being  classed  among  the  most  wealthy  and 
enterprising  in  the  Eastern  world.  It  has  a very  fine 
harbor,  with  every  convenience  for  loading  and  unload- 
ing ships,  which  can  sail  close  up  to  the  houses ; and  it 
also  possesses  a fine  citadel,  with  a cannon  foundry  and 
vast  magazines  for  military  stores  in  the  suburbs,  which 
are  separated  from  the  city  by  a chain  of  rocky  hills, 
over  which  a paved  road  leads  through  a pass  with  a 
massive  gateway  on  the  highest  point.  The  streets  of 
the  city  are  narrow,  but  they  contain  several  handsome 
temples  and  houses  belonging  to  the  officers  and  mer- 
chants. 

The  fleet  destined  to  attack  this  important  place  ap- 
peared off  Amoy  on  the  26th  of  August.  The  broadsides 
of  the  ships  had  little  effect  on  the  stone  works,  and  it 
was  not  until  a body  of  troops  landed  and  drove  out  their 
garrisons,  who  stood  manfully  to  their  guns,  that  the 
fire  slackened  and  the  Chinese  took  to  flight.  The  tre- 
mendous cannonading  was  continued  for  four  hours, 
without  the  least  real  damage  to  the  fortifications,  and 
without  killing  more  than  between  twenty  and  thirty 
Chinese. 

When  the  city  was  entered  by  the  British  troops,  it 
was  found  in  much  the  same  state  as  Ting-hai  on  a simi- 
lar occasion.  The  most  respectable  of  the  inhabitants 
had  fled  and  a great  deal  of  property  had  been  removed, 
but  much  had  been  necessarily  left  behind.  The  streets 
were  soon  filled  with  plunderers,  who,  in  spite  of  the 
efforts  of  the  soldiery,  contrived  to  appropriate  a vast 
quantity  of  goods  to  which  they  had  no  claim.  Leaving 
a garrison  at  Ku-long-su,  a small  rocky  island,  forming 
part  of  the  fortifications  of  Amoy,  the  expedition  pro- 


348 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


ceeded  to  Cliu-san,  which  was  speedily  reoccupied,  but 
not  without  the  sacrifice  of  many  lives  on  the  part  of 
the  Chinese,  who  made  an  attempt  to  defend  Ting-hai, 
hut  were  soon  obliged  to  surrender. 

The  next  conquest  was  that  of  Chin-hai,  a large  and 
opulent  city  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ningpo  river,  the  occu- 
pation of  which  was  a preliminary  step  to  the  attack 
upon  Ningpo  itself.  Chin-hai  stands  at  the  foot  of  a 
lofty  hill,  and  is  enclosed  by  a high  wall,  about  thirty- 
seven  feet  in  thickness,  over  which  may  he  seen  the  tall 
masts  of  vessels  gliding  along  a branch  of  the  river  wdiich 
runs  through  the  town.  On  the  summit  of  the  hill  is 
the  citadel,  which,  from  its  commanding  position,  is 
most  important  as  a military  station,  being,  as  it  were, 
the  key  to  both  Chin-hai  and  Ningpo,  the  latter  situated 
about  fifteen  miles  up  the  river.  This  fortress  is  also 
surrounded  by  a strong  wall,  with  massive  gates,  and  on 
two  sides  the  height  is  so  precipitous  that  it  is  inaccessi- 
ble, except  at  one  point,  where  a narrow  path  wfinds 
from  the  sea,  which  skirts  the  base  of  the  hill,  and  to 
this  path  there  is  no  way  by  land.  The  citadel  commu- 
nicates with  the  town  by  a steep  causeway  to  a barrier 
gate  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill,  where  a bridge  over  a 
moat  leads  to  one  of  the  city  gates.  When  the  British 
fleet  arrived  every  point  was  fortified  with  batteries 
and  guns  mounted,  while  the  hills  were  covered  with 
encampments. 

On  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  October  about  twenty  - 
two  hundred  men,  with  twelve  field-pieces  and  mortars, 
wTere  landed  to  attack  the  citadel  and  entrenched  camp. 
In  these  positions  alone  there  were  about  nine  thousand 
Chinese  and  Manchu  Tartars,  who  formed  in  tolerable 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


'349 


order  as  the  English  advanced,  opening  a well-directed 
fire  upon  their  front  column,  but  quite  neglecting  two 
smaller  columns  sent  round  to  turn  their  flanks;  as 
these  three  columns  opened  upon  them  nearly  at  the 
same  time,  their  whole  force  was  completely  bewildered, 
and  soon  broke  and  fled  in  all  directions.  Knowing 
nothing  of  the  mode  of  asking  for  quarter,  and  not 
being  themselves  in  the  habit  of  giving  quarter,  while 
some  fled  into  the  country  the  greater  part  retreated  to- 
ward the  water,  pursued  by  the  British  soldiery.  Hun- 
dreds were  shot  or  bayoneted,  and  hundreds  more  were 
drowned.  Sir  Hugh  Gough  sent  out  a flag,  with  a Chinese 
inscription  on  it,  to  inform  them  that  their  lives  would 
be  spared  if  they  yielded,  but  not  more  than  five  hun- 
dred understood  it  so  far  as  to  throw  down  their  arms. 
The  water  was  covered  with  dead  bodies,  and,  besides  a 
large  number  of  wounded,  full  fifteen  hundred  lost  their 
lives.  Meanwhile,  the  town  and  its  defences  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river  were  bombarded  by  the  ships 
and  the  troops  driven  out.  Yu-kien,  the  very  high  offi- 
cial who  commanded,  on  seeing  that  the  day  was  lost, 
attempted  to  drown  himself;  and  being  prevented  from 
so  doing,  he  fled  beyond  Ningpo  and  committed  suicide 
in  another  manner.  At  Chin-hai  about  a hundred  and 
fifty  pieces  of  brass  ordnance,  many  iron  guns,  match- 
locks and  other  military  stores,  were  captured,  together 
with  great  quantities  of  rice  and  other  provisions.  The 
bombardment  caused  the  death  of  many  poor,  inoffensive 
townspeople,  who  offered  no  resistance. 

Chin-hai  was  taken  on  the  10th  of  October,  and  on 
the  following  day  the  fleet  proceeded  up  the  river  to 
Ningpo,  having  left  a guard  of  three  hundred  men  in 


S50 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  captured  city.  The  country  is  a highly-cultivated 
plain,  intersected  -with  numerous  canals  and  abounding 
with  cattle,  which  is  an  unusual  sight  in  China.  The 
villages  are  numerous,  and  a large  town  is  situated  at 
every  five  or  six  miles  along  the  river,  while  in  the  dis- 
tance are  seen  ranges  of  lofty  hills,  forming  the  bound- 
ary of  a very  charming  prospect.  The  whole  province 
of  Chi-kiang  is  luxuriant  and  beautiful,  and  contains  an 
immense  population,  all  the  towns  and  villages  being 
crowded  with  inhabitants.  Numerous  families  also 
dwell  on  the  waters,  which  are  enlivened  by  verdure, 
as  the  poor  people  who  lead  this  amphibious  kind  of 
life  cultivate  some  vegetables  and  flowers  in  pots  on 
their  barges. 

In  the  same  province,  Hang-chau,  which,  under  some 
of  the  early  dynasties,  was  the  capital  of  the  empire,  is 
still  one  of  the  most  wealthy  and  pleasant  cities  of  China. 
It  is  supposed  to  contain  a population  equal  to  that  of 
Paris,  and  is  adorned  with  many  elegant  buildings. 
The  shops  are  handsome,  and  well  stocked,  not  only 
with  native  produce,  but  with  British  manufactures, 
particularly  broadcloth,  which  is  very  much  used  in 
this  and  the  more  northern  parts  of  China.  The  coun- 
try around  Hang-chau  is  studded  with  ornamented 
villas  and  lofty  pagodas,  and  i§  beautifully  diversified 
with  hill  and  dale,  the  former  covered  to  the  summit 
with  a variety  of  trees  and  shrubs,  among  which  the 
camphor  and  tallow  trees  are  conspicuous — the  one  by 
its  bright  green,  the  other  by  its  purple  leaves ; and 
as  Chi-kiang  is  one  of  the  principal  silk  provinces, 
plantations  of  mulberry  trees  are  found  in  every  part. 

The  city  of  Ningpo,  now  a place  of  interest  as  an  im- 


TAU-KWANG  AND  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


351 


portant  open  port  and  field  of  successful  missionary- 
efforts,  was  taken  without  the  least  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  inhabitants,  many  of  whom  assisted  the  Eng- 
lish to  scale  the  walls  and  open  the  gates  which  had  been 
barricaded,  so  that  the  terrible  scenes  which  had  occurred 
at  Chin-hai  were  not  enacted  on  this  occasion.  The  in- 
habitants wrote  on  the  doors  of  their  houses  the  words 
shun  min,  meaning  “submissive  people.”  About  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  in  silver, 
many  tons  of  copper  cash,  with  rice,  silk  and  porcelain, 
made  up  the  most  valuable  prize  yet  taken.  It  was  de- 
termined to  occupy  the  city  as  winter  quarters.  Xingpo 
is  a much  larger  city  than  Chin-hai,  and  being  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  green-tea  districts,  it  is  very  conveniently 
situated  as  a trading  station  for  foreign  vessels.  It  has 
six  arched  gates  and  is  almost  surrounded  by  water,  the 
river  running  on  one  side  almost  close  to  the  walls,  and 
a canal  forming  a boundary  to  the  remainder  of  the  city, 
with  the  exception  of  a small  part  of  the  suburbs.  The 
ramparts  are  high,  and  so  wide  that  three  carriages 
might  be  driven  abreast  on  their  summit,  and  the  walls 
are  strengthened  by  huge  square  buttresses  on  the 
inside. 

The  houses  in  Ningpo  have  generally  two  stories,  the 
one  raised  above  the  othej  on  pillars,  each  story  having 
a separate  tiled  roof.  All  the  good  houses  are  within  a 
small  court,  the  latter  paved  with  flag-stones,  and  orna- 
mented with  flower-beds  and  tanks  for  gold-fish.  The 
principal  entrance  to  these  abodes  consists  of  triple  doors, 
but  those  which  form  a communication  between  different 
apartments  are  of  many  fantastic  shapes.  There  are  no 
glass  windows,  and  when  the  English  first  arrived  there 


352 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EXPIRE. 


•were  no  firejfiaces,  but  the  officers  very  soon  supplied 
that  deficiency  in  the  houses  where  they  established 
themselves. 

A curious  incident,  illustrative  of  the  Chinese  charac- 
ter, is  related  by  a British  officer  as  having  occurred 
during  his  residence  at  Ningpo.  A paper  was  one  day 
thrown  over  the  wall  addressed  to  the  English,  contain- 
ing, among  other  arguments,  this  appeal  to  their  feelings, 
so  characteristic  of  the  people  of  China,  on  the  im- 
propriety of  remaining  any  longer  in  that  country: 
“ You  have  been  away  from  your  country  long  enough  ; 
your  mothers  and  sisters  must  be  longing  for  your  re- 
turn. Go  back  to  your  families,  for  we  do  not  want  you 
here.” 

In  the  month  of  March,  1842,  the  Chinese  made  a 
desperate  effort  to  recover  the  cities  of  Chin-liai  and 
ISTingpo,  which  they  entered  at  night  by  scaling  the 
walls,  but  in  both  cases  they  were  repulsed  with  consid- 
erable loss.  At  Ningpo  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
soldiers  were  killed  in  the  market-place.  This  attack 
appears  to  have  been  the  result  of  a plan  concerted 
among  the  chiefs  of  the  army  and  some  of  the  govern- 
ors, as  a fleet  of  junks  was  sent  just  at  the  same  time 
against  Chu-san,  but  equally  without  effect. 

Having  failed  in  their  enterprises,  the  Chinese  forces 
assembled  at  Tsz-ki,  a town  about  eleven  miles  from 
Ningpo,  where  they  formed  an  extensive  encampment, 
and  endeavored  to  cut  off  the  supplies  that  were  carried 
every  day  by  the  country  people  into  the  city.  This 
measure  brought  on  an  immediate  engagement,  and  again 
the  imperial  troops  were  put  to  flight,  leaving  about  six 
hundred  dead  upon  the  field.  For  two  months  after  this 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


353 


battle  hostilities  were  suspended,  and  the  markets,  as  in 
time  of  peace,  were  plentifully  supplied  with  poultry, 
fish  and  very  fine  vegetables. 

About  this  time  the  emperor  removed  to  Jeh-ho  for 
the  summer,  but  haughtily  refused  to  listen  to  the  pro- 
posed terms  of  peace.  On  the  7th  of  May  the  British 
army  left  Ningpo  on  its  progress  toward  the  north. 
The  intention  of  the  general  was  to  proceed  to  Nanking, 
and  take  possession  of  that  important  city  as  a prelude 
to  the  attack  on  Peking,  provided  the  emperor  should 
persist  in  refusing  to  make  peace  on  the  terms  demanded 
by  the  government  of  Great  Britain.  On  the  coast  of 
Chi-kiang  stands  the  town  of  Cha-pu,  the  chief  port  of 
communication  between  China  and  Japan.  It  is  situated 
at  the  foot  of  a chain  of  wooded  hills,  which,  on  the 
landing  of  the  English,  were  covered  with  Tartar  troops, 
who  fled  without  making  any  attempt  to  prevent  the  in- 
vaders from  entering  the  city.  The  Tartar  inhabitants 
of  Cha-pu — those  who  were  able  to  bear  arms  being  all 
soldiers — occupied  a small  division  of  the  town,  sepa- 
rated from  that  of  the  Chinese  by  a wall,  and  built  with 
the  regularity  of  an  encampment,  where  they  dwelt  with 
their  wives  and  children,  many  of  whom  were  made 
widows  and  orphans  on  that  fatal  day ; for  when  the 
soldiers  fled  from  the  heights  a party  of  about  nine  hun- 
dred Tartars  took  refuge  in  a temple,  to  which  they  were 
pursued,  and  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  if  they  sur- 
rendered no  quarter  would  be  given,  they  fired  on  the 
enemy,  killing  and  wounding  several  British  officers, 
upon  which  the  British  soldiery  commenced  an  indis- 
criminate slaughter  of  these  brave  people,  in  which  they 
spared  but  forty,  whom  they  made  prisoners,  but  after- 

23 


354 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


■ward  released.  Many  of  the  families  of  the  city  en- 
deavored to  escape  from  these  horrible  scenes,  but  were 
unable  to  do  so  from  their  terror  of  the  barbarity  and 
licentiousness  of  the  Hindoo  troops  in  the  British  army. 
Most  of  the  poor  women  whose  husbands  were  killed 
threw  their  helpless  infants  into  the  tanks  and  wells, 
and  then  destroyed  themselves  or  each  other. 

Soon  after  the  capture  of  Cha-pu  the  fleet  entered  the 
river  Yang-tsz-kiang,  or  the  “ Son  of  the  Ocean.”  This 
noble  stream,  which  rises  in  Tibet,  and  flows  through 
near  three  thousand  miles  of  country  ere  it  reaches  the 
sea,  is  the  largest  river  in  the  world  except  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Amazon ; and,  considering  the  innumer- 
able canals  which  it  supplies  with  water  to  keep  the 
country  through  which  it  passes  under  constant  irriga- 
tion, the  commerce  carried  on  upon  its  bosom,  the  fruit- 
fulness of  its  banks  and  the  depth  and  breadth  of  its 
waters,  it  may  well  claim  a place  among  the  great  rivers 
of  the  globe.  The  right  bank  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  is 
more  picturesque  then  the  left,  on  account  of  the  chains 
of  hills  which  rise  behind  each  other,  and  which  are 
covered  with  rich  and  varied  foliage,  not  merely  in  the 
distance,  but  sweeping  down  to  the  banks  of  the  stream ; 
while  the  country  on  the  other  side  is  flat  and  culti- 
vated with  rice,  but  rendered  pleasing  to  the  eye  by 
many  neat  little  villages.  As  the  fleet  sailed  up  the 
river  the  villagers  flocked  in  crowds  to  the  shore,  to 
gaze  at  the  novel  spectacle  of  steamships  on  the  waters 
of  China.  On  the  20th  of  July  the  fleet  anchored  at 
Chin-kiang,  a strongly  fortified  city,  which,  being  sit- 
uated at  the  point  where  the  Grand  Canal  enters  the 
Yang-tsz-kiang  river,  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  keys 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


355 


of  the  empire,  and  forms  a barrier  for  the  defence  of  the 
interior. 

The  river  was  in  this  part  about  a mile  and  a half  broad, 
and  near  the  shore,  crowned  with  temples,  since  then 
destroyed  by  the  rebels,  rose  the  Kin-shan,  or  Golden 
Island,  the  beauties  of  which  were  so  highly  celebrated 
by  foreigners  who  had  seen  it.  The  town  was  garri- 
soned by  Tartars,  and  the  hills  overhanging  the  river 
were  covered  with  encampments  of  Chinese  troops,  who 
fled.  The  Tartars,  however,  bravely  defended  the  city, 
disputing  every  inch  of  ground,  and  firing  incessantly 
from  the  ramparts,  which  were  at  length  ascended  by 
scaling-ladders,  and  after  some  desperate  fighting,  in 
which  many  Englishmen  were  killed,  the  British  flag 
was  planted  on  the  walls.  Still,  the  Tartars  continued 
to  resist  with  determined  valor,  fighting  in  the  streets 
with  their  long  spears  and  firing  with  matchlocks  from 
the  houses  for  several  hours,  till  night  came  on,  when 
they  were  obliged  to  give  up  the  contest,  and  the  in- 
habitants then  began  to  make  their  escape  from  the  city. 

The  taking  of  Chin-kiang  is  memorable  for  an  extra- 
ordinary act  of  individual  resolution.  The  Tartar  gen- 
eral, who  had  made  the  greatest  exertions  to  save  the  city, 
when  he  found  that  the  contest  was  decided  in  favor  of 
the  enemy,  went  into  his  house,  and,  taking  his  accus- 
tomed seat  in  an  arm-chair,  had  his  official  papers 
heaped  around  it,  and  ordered  his  servants  to  set  fire  to 
the  dwelling.  His  body  was  found  the  next  day  much 
burned,  but  retaining  the  sitting  posture  in  which  he 
had  placed  himself  to  meet  the  approach  of  death.  On 
the  morning  after  the  battle  the  streets  were  found 
strewed  with  the  dead,  the  houses  were  mostly  de- 


356 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


serted,  those  of  the  government  officers  were  in  flames, 
the  shops  were  broken  open  and  plundered  by  the 
Chinese  rabble,  and  female  suicide  was  committed  to  a 
more  fearful  extent  than  even  at  Cha-pu. 

But  let  us  leave  this  scene  of  horror  and  proceed  with 
the  fleet  to  the  famous  city  of  Nanking,  forty  miles 
higher  up  the  river.  This  ancient  capital  was  still  a 
large,  populous  and  wealthy  city ; and  although  exhibit- 
ing none  of  that  splendor  which  depends  on  the  residence 
of  the  court,  was  still  superior,  in  many  respects,  to  the 
present  metropolis.  It  was  the  residence  of  a great  num- 
ber of  literary  men,  and  had  many  flourishing  manufac- 
tures, particularly  those  of  silk  and  the  cotton  cloth 
which  is  known  by  its  name.  The  city  and  its  vicin- 
ity presented  many  objects  of  attraction,  among  which  the 
Porcelain  Tower  occupied  the  first  place.  This  cele- 
brated work  of  art,  and  the  temple  to  which  it  was 
attached,  were  built  by  the  emperor  Yung-loh  before 
he  removed  the  seat  of  government  from  Nanking  to 
Peking. 

The  pagoda  was  the  most  elegant  structure  of  the  kind 
that  had  hitherto  been  seen  by  foreigners  in  China, 
and  took  its  name  from  the  tiles  of  white  porcelain  with 
which  the  solid  brickwork  of  the  building  was  covered, 
every  tile  being  cast  in  a mould,  with  an  indenture  in 
the  shape  of  a half  cross,  the  bricks  having  a projecting 
piece  of  a similar  form,  which  fitted  into  the  cavity.  The 
tower  consisted  of  nine  stories,  and  was  remarkable  for 
its  correct  proportions.  Its  form  was  octagonal,  the  an- 
gles being  marked  on  each  side  by  a row  of  tiles,  red  and 
green,  placed  alternately.  A light  balustrade  of  green 
porcelain  ran  round  each  story,  at  every  corner  of  which 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


357 


hung  a bell.  The  staircase  was  within  the  wall  and 
communicated  with  every  floor.  Each  story  formed  a 
room  with  a painted  roof,  and  contained  a number  of 
idols  placed  in  niches ; and  each  room  had  four  windows, 
placed  toward  the  four  cardinal  points.  There  were 
priests  attached  to  this  pagoda  to  keep  it  in  good  order 
and  to  see  that  it  was  illuminated  at  all  festivals,  the  ex- 
penses being  paid  by  the  contributions  of  those  who  be- 
stowed money  for  such  purposes  in  the  hope  of  propitia- 
ting the  deities.  Within  a few  years  past,  in  a great 
fire  which  desolated  the  portion  the  city  in  which  it 
stood,  this  remarkable  structure  was  destroyed. 

The  ancient  palaces,  observatories  and  sepulchres 
were  destroyed  by  the  Tartars  two  centuries  previously. 
Nanking  before  the  rebellion  was  an  eminent  seat  of 
learning,  and  sent  more  members  to  the  Imperial  College 
of  Peking  than  any  other  city.  The  books,  the  paper 
and  the  printing  of  Nanking  were  celebrated  through  the 
country  as  being  unrivaled.  The  best  Chinese  (called 
by  us  Indian ) ink  is  manufactured  in  the  neighboring 
cities.  The  silks,  the  teas  and  the  various  other  products 
of  this  province  render  it  the  most  valuable  part  of  the 
■whole  empire,  and  its  climate  is  excellent.  The  famous 
pirate,  Kosliinga,  who  so  long  possessed  the  island  of 
Formosa,  once  sailed  up  to  Nanking  and  laid  siege  to  it. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  August  when  the  British 
fleet  arrived  within  sight  of  Nanking,  which  was  garri- 
soned by  about  fourteen  thousand  troops ; and  here 
another  sanguinary  conflect  was  expected ; but  happily 
this  anticipation  was  not  realized,  for  just  as  the  attack 
was  about  to  be  commenced,  letters  reached  camp,  and 
the  British  general,  Sir  Hugh  Gough,  was  informed  that 


358 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


certain  high  commissioners,  deputed  by  the  emperor, 
•were  on  their  way  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a peace. 
These  joyful  tidings  were  speedily  confirmed  by  the  ar- 
rival of  the  three  delegates.  At  the  head  of  it  was 
Keying,  an  uncle  of  the  emperor,  a man  of  extra- 
ordinary ability,  who  seemed  fully  to  cast  away  the 
prejudices  of  his  people  against  foreign  improvements, 
and  spoke  in  kind  terms  of  Christianity  and  its  benevo- 
lent principles,  which  seem  to  have  impressed  him,  not- 
withstanding the  tremendous  calamities  inflicted  upon 
his  nation  by  the  nominal  professors  of  it.  The  other 
members  were  Elepoo,  the  former  governor  of  Chi-kiang, 
a member  of  the  royal  family,  and  a Tartar  general. 
These  high  functionaries  were  conveyed  on  board  the 
Cornwallis  in  a steam  vessel,  and  opened  the  negotia- 
tions which  terminated  in  a treaty  of  peace.  The  nego- 
tiations were  renewed  on  shore,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger 
being  assisted  by  Colonel  Malcolm,  and  Messrs.  Morrison, 
Thom  and  Gutzlaff ; and  on  the  29th  of  August,  1842, 
the  treaty  was  fully  concluded  and  signed  on  board  the 
Cornwallis. 

As  the  British  plenipotentiary  had  yielded  nothing  of 
his  demands,  all  the  concession  was  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese  government.  The  articles  of  the  treaty  were 
summarily  these : Lasting  peace  and  friendship  to  be 
preserved  between  the  two  empires;  China  to  pay  the 
immense  sum  of  twenty-one  millions  of  dollars  (of  which 
twelve  millions  were  to  pay  England  the  expenses  of  the 
war,  three  millions  were  claimed  for  debts  due  to  English 
merchants,  and  six  millions  of  dollars  were  required  to 
remunerate  the  owners  of  the  smuggled  opium  which  Lin 
had  seized  in  the  Canton  river) ; the  five  ports  of  Can- 


TAU-KWANQ  AND  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


359 


ton,  Amoy,  Fu-cliau,  Shanghai  and  Ningpo  to  he  open 
to  the  British,  who  should  have  the  liberty  of  appoint- 
ing consuls  to  reside  in  those  towns ; regular  tariffs  of 
import  and  export  duties  to  be  established,  so  that  the 
merchants  might  not  be  subjected  to  impositions ; and 
the  island  of  Hong-kong  was  to  be  ceded  for  ever  to  the 
Crown  of  England.  All  subjects  of  Great  Britain, 
whether  European  or  Indian,  then  prisoners,  were  also 
to  be  released,  without  ransom  or  condition  of  any  kind. 
And,  lastly,  the  emperor  was  to  grant  a free  pardon  to 
all  those  of  his  own  subjects  who  had  incurred  penalties 
by  holding  intercourse  with  the  British  officers. 

The  emperor  objected  strongly  to  the  opening  of  Fu- 
chau,  on  account  of  its  vicinity  to  the  principal  black-tea 
districts,  alleging  that  if  the  English  shipped  their  tea 
at  this  port,  instead  of  at  Canton,  the  trade  of  the  latter 
place  would  be  ruined,  and  great  numbers  of  his  sub- 
jects thereby  injured;  but  as  the  object  of  gaining 
access  to  this  port  was  the  very  one  that  formed  the 
ground  of  objection  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment— namely,  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  and  expense 
of  bringing  goods  several  hundred  miles  for  shipment — 
this  point  was  insisted  on  and  eventually  gained  by  the 
British  plenipotentiary,  who,  as  a security  for  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  treaty,  announced  his  intention  of  keep- 
ing possession  of  Chu-san  and  Ku-long-su  until  all 
the  money  should  be  paid  and  the  rest  of  the  terms 
fully  completed. 

Fu-chau,  a place  of  considerable  trade,  and  the  capi- 
tal of  the  province  of  Fu-kien,  is  seated  on  the  banks  of 
the  Min,  one  of  the  large  rivers  of  China.  The  country 
around  is  mountainous,  and  the  scenery  on  the  borders 


360 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  the  river  is  described  as  being  very  romantic  and 
beautiful,  resembling  here  and  there  the  most  pictu- 
resque parts  of  the  banks  of  the  Rhine ; and  as  the  climate 
is  much  more  temperate  than  in  the  southern  provinces, 
Fu-cbau  will  probably  be  more  pleasant  as  a place  of 
residence  than  Canton.  The  city  stands  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  the  two  parts  being  connected  by  a cele- 
brated stone  bridge,  consisting  of  thirty-three  arches, 
which  is  mentioned  as  a wonderful  work  of  art  by  the 
Jesuit  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  liberty 
of  trading  to  Fu-chau  is  of  importance,  as  the  black  teas 
can  be  brought  in  boats  direct  to  the  ships  from  the 
farms  where  they  are  grown,  and  thus  the  enormous  ex- 
penses of  land  carriage  to  Canton  will  be  obviated. 
Shanghai  is  one  of  the  greatest  commercial  emporiums 
of  Eastern  Asia,  being  advantageously  situated  for  native 
trade  on  the  river  Woo-sung  near  the  Yang-tsz-kiang, 
and  thus  communicates  with  the  Great  Canal  and  the 
Yellow  river.  This  port  has  a commodious  harbor,  and 
is  frequented  by  trading  junks  from  all  parts  of  the 
empire.  The  streets  are  narrow,  and  most  of  them  are 
paved  with  tiles.  Although  the  shops  are  small,  they 
are  plentifully  stocked  with  native  commodities  of  all 
descriptions ; and  many  of  them  contain  European 
broad-cloths  and  other  foreign  goods.  The  great  advan- 
tage of  Shanghai  as  a port  is  its  easy  communication 
by  water  with  the  interior  provinces  of  the  empire,  and 
with  the  populous  cities  on  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  and  the 
Imperial  Canal.  It  has  since  the  war  become  the  great 
port  of  entry  and  exit  for  foreign  commerce,  and  its 
population  and  wealth  have  increased  fourfold.  A 
large  trade  has  been  done  on  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  in 


TAU-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


361 


foreign  steamers,  which,  though  temporarily  checked, 
will  no  doubt  increase  in  the  future  to  vast  dimensions. 
Native  steamers  have  already  been  built;  a line  of 
American  steamships  connects  it  and  other  ports  less 
favorably  situated  with  California  and  the  New  World. 

After  the  signing  of  the  treaty  at  Nanking,  Lord 
Saltoun  was  appointed  governor  of  Hong-kong,  where 
very  extensive  improvements  had  been  made  since  the 
British  had  been  in  possession  of  the  island.  The  new 
town,  the  principal  part  of  which  is  built  on  a hill,  con- 
tains many  fine  buildings,  has  an  important  commerce, 
and  is  a depot  of  military  and  naval  stores  for  the 
British  government;  but  the  climate  is  found  to  be 
unhealthy. 

The  Chinese,  not  without  reason,  view  the  Opium 
War,  and  its  exactions  and  results,  with  great  bitterness. 
The  following  is  a specimen  of  the  papers  published  by 
some  of  their  writers  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the 
English. 

“ Behold  that  vile  English  nation  ! Its  ruler  is  at  one 
time  a woman,  then  a man,  and  then  perhaps  a woman 
again ; its  people  are  at  one  time  like  vultures,  and  then 
they  are  like  wild  beasts,  with  dispositions  more  fierce 
and  furious  than  the  tiger  or  wolf,  and  natures  more 
greedy  than  anacondas  or  swine.  These  peojde  have 
long  stealthily  devoured  all  the  Western  barbarians,  and, 
like  demons  of  the  night,  they  now  suddenly  exalt  them- 
selves here.  During  the  reigns  of  the  emperors  Kien- 
lung  and  Kia-king  these  English  barbarians  humbly 
besought  an  entrance  and  permission  to  deliver  tribute 
and  presents ; they  afterward  presumptuously  asked  to 
have  Chu-san,  but  our  sovereigns,  clearly  perceiving  their 


362 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


traitorous  designs,  gave  them  a determined  refusal. 
From  that  time,  linking  themselves  with  traitorous  Chi- 
nese traders,  they  have  carried  on  a large  trade  and 
poisoned  our  brave  people  with  opium.  Verily,  the  Eng- 
lish barbarians  murder  all  of  us  that  they  can.  They 
are  dogs,  whose  desires  can  never  be  satisfied.  There- 
fore we  need  not  inquire  whether  the  peace  they  have 
now  made  be  real  or  pretended.  Let  us  all  rise,  arm, 
unite  and  go  against  them.  We  do  here  bind  ourselves 
to  vengeance,  and  express  these  our  sincere  intentions  in 
order  to  exhibit  our  high  principles  and  patriotism. 
The  gods  from  on  high  now  look  down  on  us;  let  us  not 
lose  our  just  and  firm  resolution.”  The  popular  oppo- 
sition to  foreigners  at  Canton  was  remarkable  in  several 
ways,  as  showing  the  energy  and  freedom  of  the  people. 
The  paper  above  was  agreed  to  at  a great  public  meeting 
at  Canton,  and  the  officers  of  the  province  declared  that 
they  could  not  prevent  its  publication.  Outbreaks  con- 
tinued to  take  place  from  time  to  time  in  Canton,  and 
life  and  property  were  less  secure  for  a number  of  years 
than  they  were  before  the  war  and  treaty  of  peace.  On 
the  8th  of  July,  1846,  the  patriots  and  the  mob  and 
thieves  endeavored  to  burn  and  destroy  factories.  The 
foreign  merchants  on  shore,  being  without  any  military 
or  naval  assistance,  armed  themselves  and  shot  about 
twenty  of  their  assailants,  and  thus  restored  tranquillity 
for  a time. 

At  length  it  became  evident  that  the  local  government 
had  no  faculty  of  suppression  or  coercion,  and  that  it  was 
utterly  powerless  to  carry  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty 
into  effect.  In  May,  1847,  several  British  vessels  of  war 
proceeded  to  the  Bogue  Forts  and  captured  and  removed 


TATJ-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


363 


or  destroyed  all  their  guns.  After  this  the  populace  of 
Canton  became  more  submissive,  and  the  Europeans  were 
authorized  by  the  local  government  to  extend  the  limits 
of  their  factories  and  permitted  to  enjoy  more  freedom. 

The  British  colony  of  Hong-kong,  instead  of  proving 
a representative  of  the  blessings  of  Christian  institutions 
upon  which  the  people  of  China  would  look  with  admi- 
ration, was  the  scene  of  every  vice  in  its  boldest  and  most 
unrestrained  form.  It  was  the  headquarters  of  the  dia- 
bolical opium  traffic.  The  police,  knowing  as  yet  little 
of  the  Chinese  or  their  language,  were  impotent  to  de- 
tect and  punish  crime.  “ It  is  very  natural,”  says  Dr. 
Gutzlaff,  describing  its  condition,  “ that  depraved,  idle, 
wicked  characters  from  the  adjacent  main  should  flock 
to  the  colony.  The  islanders  themselves,  nearly  all  fish- 
ermen are  pirates  when  the  opportunity  presents.  They 
are  a roving  set  of  beings,  floating  on  the  wide  face  of 
the  ocean  with  their  families,  and  committing  depreda- 
tions whenever  it  can  be  done  with  impunity.  The 
stone-cutters  have  been  working  here  for  many  years 
before  our  arrival;  the  majority  of  these  men  are  un- 
principled; they  cannot  be  considered  as  domesticated 
among  us,  and  are  in  the  habit  of  going  and  coming  ac- 
cording to  the  state  of  their  trade.  The  most  numerous 
class,  who  since  our  arrival  have  fixed  themselves  on  the 
island,  are  from  Whampoa;  many  of  them  are  of  the 
very  worst  character,  and  are  ready  to  commit  any  atro- 
city.” Under  the  very  shadow  of  the  British  flag  there 
were  formed  numerous  nocturnal  clubs  and  secret  socie- 
ties. The  members  of  these  societies  bound  themselves 
to  stand  by  one  another  and  afford  mutual  protection. 
Thus  the  other  Chinese  were  afraid  of  denouncing  their 


364 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


crimes  or  informing  against  tliem.  The  proclamations 
of  the  governor  had  no  effect  toward  dissolving  or  even 
checking  these  combinations. 

The  great  Governor  of  nations  made  the  Opium  War  a 
means,  evil  as  it  was,  of  breaking  down  the  fence  with 
which  Manchu  jealousy  and  Chinese  pride  had  begirt 
the  empire.  But  some  of  the  immediate  effects  were 
most  prejudicial  to  Christianity.  The  causes,  the  history 
and  the  results  of  the  war  created  intense  hatred  and 
detestation  of  Christian  nations.  It  was  remarked  at 
the  time  that  one  very  visible  effect  of  the  English  war 
upon  the  emperor  Tau-kwang  was  his  return  to  idola- 
try. Formerly  he  had  professed  to  be  a strict  Confucian 
and  to  hold  in  contempt  all  manner  of  graven  images.- 
But  now  the  idols  in  the  empire  were  not  sufficiently 
numerous  for  him,  and  new  ones  were  imported  and  old 
ones  brought  again  to  light  from  the  obscurity  and  neg- 
lect into  which  they  had  been  allowed  to  fall.  He  pros- 
trated himself  and  burned  his  incense  before  these  dei- 
ties, thinking  that  if  he  had  done  so  before  his  hosts  would 
not  have  been  beaten  by  the  unbelieving  barbarians. 
This  superstitious  state  of  mind  was  rendered  still  worse 
by  the  occurrence  of  a scarcity  which  in  many  parts  of 
the  empire  amounted  to  a famine,  and  by  the  void  pre- 
sented in  the  imperial  treasury,  which  had  been  emptied 
by  the  war  and  the  money  paid  for  the  peace. 

Tau-kwang  changed  his  chief  ministers,  but  he  could 
not  find  one  with  power  and  means  to  remedy  the  evils. 
He  sent  out  circulars  to  the  governors  of  the  provinces, 
calling  upon  them  for  a correct  statement  of  their  debts 
and  annual  revenues,  and  he  asked  his  grand  council 
what  was  to  be  done  to  avert  a general  bankruptcy. 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


365 


Many  of  tlie  poor  people  gave  up  their  lands  and  huts 
because  they  could  not  pay  the  taxes,  many  emigrated  to 
foreign  countries,  and  others  turned  robbers  on  land  or 
pirates  at  sea  and  on  the  great  rivers.  The  last  class 
became  so  exceedingly  numerous  and  so  daring  that 
even  foreign  ships  were  not  always  safe.  But  for  the 
British  squadron  these  pirates  would  have  become  far 
more  formidable.  The  emperor  ordered  that  a fleet 
should  be  built,  and  even  that  steam  vessels,  like  those 
used  with  so  much  effect  by  the  English,  should  be  con- 
structed. The  Chinese  workmen  made  a steamer  in  all 
outward  appearances  very  like  theirs ; it  had  its  funnel 
and  its  paddle-wheels,  but  to  make  a steam  engine  was 
quite  beyond  their  skill  at  the  time.  They  also  con- 
structed a few  ships  on  the  European  model,  hut  these 
were  weak  and  badly  manned,  and  they  remained  quietly 
at  anchor  under  the  protection  of  the  Bogue  Forts  while 
the  pirates  were  ravaging  the  coasts. 

If  the  British  negotiators  had  neglected  many  im- 
portant points  (as  that  of  religious  liberty  in  China), 
and  had  not  concluded  the  best  treaty  which  might  have 
been  made,  they  had  neither  done  nor  intended  any- 
thing in  an  illiberal,  exclusive  spirit.  The  announce- 
ment of  the  British  treaty  of  Nanking  caused  consider- 
able sensation  among  the  commercial  circles,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  America.  The  governments  of  Belgium, 
the  Netherlands,  Spain,  Portugal,  and  even  Prussia,  de- 
puted agents  to  confer  with  the  Chinese  authorities  at 
Canton,  to  examine  into  the  prospects  of  trade,  and,  if 
possible,  to  make  commercial  arrangements  in  the  coun- 
try. The  United  States  sent  a minister  extraordinary 
to  the  court  of  Peking  with  a letter  from  the  President 


366 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


to  the  emperor.  Mr.  Cushing  and  his  suite  arrived  in 
China  in  the  frigate  Brandywine  in  February,  1844,  and 
took  up  their  residence  at  Macao.  They  were  very 
positively  told  that  they  could  on  no  account  he  allowed 
to  proceed  to  Peking,  as  the  United  States  of  America 
had  never  yet  sent  tribute  to  the  emperor,  and  could  not 
therefore  be  included  among  the  tributary  states  of  the 
empire,  which  merely  meant  that  the  Americans  had 
not  previously  sent  out  any  ambassador  or  minister. 
Although  his  negotiations  were  impeded  by  a riot  in 
the  city,  which  is  subject  to  the  Portuguese,  Mr.  Cush- 
ing succeeded  in  concluding  commercial  arrangements 
with  the  Chinese  commissioners.  The  treaty  of  Wang- 
hia,  as  it  is  called,  was  ratified  by  the  President  and 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  they  sent  the  Hon.  A. 
H.  Everett  to  China  as  resident  minister. 

The  war  had  caused  great  confusion  and  distress, 
without  producing  any  considerable  diminution  of  the 
population,  which  ever  pressed  too  closely  on  the  means 
of  subsistence.  Though  contrary  to  the  old  laws, 
the  government  winked  at  the  emigration  which  was 
going  on  at  an  increased  ratio;  yet  the  year  1846 
brought  a recurrence  of  scarcity  and  financial  embar- 
rassment. The  servants  of  government,  receiving  no 
pay,  were  left  to  shift  for  themselves ; and  in  so  doing 
they  had  recourse  to  the  most  oppressive  means  of  ex- 
tortion, by  which  the  poor  people  were  frequently  driven 
into  open  rebellion.  Great  bands  of  robbers  traversed 
the  country  with  impunity,  for  many  of  the  troops  sent 
against  them  joined  their  ranks,  and  the  rest  of  the  im- 
perial forces  were  either  too  weak  or  too  spiritless  to 
attack  them.  At  the  same  time  the  pirates  reappeared 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


367 


all  along-  the  coast.  In  1847  there  was  a rebellious 
rising  in  several  of  the  dependent, states ; the  city  of 
Kashgar  and  another  place  of  importance  were  stormed 
and  taken,  and  the  whole  of  the  imperial  Manchu  army 
was  put  to  the  rout.  The  chiefs  of  Kokonor,  a very 
independent,  unruly  race,  declared  opeu  war  against  the 
government,  made  inroads  into  the  country,  committed 
great  ravages,  levied  contributions  at  the  point  of  the 
sword,  returned  to  their  mountains  loaded  with  booty, 
and  left  poverty,  terror  and  despair  behind  them. 
Buddhists  though  they  were,  these  terrible  chiefs  stop- 
ped an  envoy  of  the  Grand  Lama  of  Tibet  (in  their 
faith  a most  sacred  person),  and  plundered  him  as  he 
was  on  his  way  to  the  emperor’s  court  at  Peking.  A 
Tartar-Chinese  army  tardily  took  the  field,  and  a long 
and  desultory  border  war  commenced,  in  which  the  cat- 
tle and  other  property  of  the  Chinese  and  the  quieter 
tribes  of  Tartars  were  plundered  to  a ruinous  extent  by 
the  active  enemy.  These  depredations  scarcely  left 
horses  and  camels  enough  to  mount  the  imperial  troops 
and  carry  their  provisions  and  stores.  Commissioner 
Lin  gradually  recovered  from  the  disgrace  he  had  in- 
curred for  not  conquering  the  English,  and  being  now 
in  favor  at  court,  he  was  sent  to  quell  this  and  other  re- 
bellions on  the  borders.  He  retired  in  triumph,  believ- 
ing that  by  his  address  and  energy  he  had  quelled  the 
insurrection,  but  some  of  those  tribes  took  up  arms  and 
rallied  as  soon  as  he  was  gone,  and  he  was  again  and 
again  obliged  to  return  to  the  scene  of  action.  The 
holy  land  of  Tibet  was  overrun  by  wild  clans  from  the 
Himmaleh  mountains  and  from  Ladakh ; the  Grand 
Lama,  believed  to  be  the  impersonation  of  the  Divinity, 


368 


TI1E  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


was  made  to  tremble  in  Lassa,  bis  remote  capital,  and 
bis  lamas  or  priests,  after  witnessing  tbe  plunder  of  their 
temples,  were  drowned  by  hundreds  in  tbe  sacred  river 
Sansoo. 

As  Tau-kwang  approached  bis  own  end,  tbe  woes  and 
miseries  of  tbe  country  thickened.  In  Ho-nan  and  else- 
where fearful  inundations  swept  away  the  crops  and  de- 
prived a vast  population  of  their  subsistence.  Many  of 
the  sufferers  were  relieved  by  death ; others  dragged  out 
a miserable  existence  by  feeding  on  roots  and  wild  herbs ; 
everywhere  in  those  districts  were  wretchedness,  disease 
and  death. 

As  the  year  1849  was  approaching,  when,  according 
to  treaty,  the  city  gates  of  Canton  were  to  be  thrown 
open  to  foreigners,  the  populace  vowed  that  the  bar- 
barians should  not  go  at  large  within  their  walls,  and 
addressed  a petition  to  the  emperor,  insisting  that 
they  had  the  right  of  settling  this  matter  themselves. 
They  threw  up  barricades,  adopted  other  measures  to 
repel  the  barbarians,  and  threatened  to  set  fire  to  the 
factories.  It  is  believed  that  these  deeds  were  very  un- 
palatable to  Tau-kwang,  who  feared  that  they  might 
bring  upon  him  another  war  with  the  English.  How- 
ever, the  poor  potentate  was  compelled  to  yield  to  the 
Canton  rabble,  and  to  write  back  that  “ the  will  of  the 
people  was  the  will  of  Heaven.” 

Battered  by  all  these  storms  and  tempests,  and  sorely 
wounded  in  his  pride,  the  health  and  strength  of  Tau- 
kwang  rapidly  gave  way.  He  was  never  himself  after 
the  Opium  War.  About  this  time  an  event  occurred 
which  shows  him  to  have  been  a man  of  great  tenderness 
of  heart,  and  reflects  honor  upon  his  character.  On 


TA  U-KWANG  AND  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


369 


ascending  the  throne,  he  had,  according  to  a custom  of 
his  nation,  adopted  as  mother  a widowed  princess  of  the 
imperial  lineage,  and  this  lady  he  continued  to  respect, 
to  love  and  almost  to  idolize.  His  devoted,  unvarying 
affection  to  her  was  that  of  the  most  affectionate  of  sons. 
This  lady  fell  sick ; he  attended  on  her  in  person,  as  he 
had  always  done  when  she  was  ill,  for  twenty-nine  years. 
On  the  19th  of  January  the  lady  took  an  airing  in  the 
garden,  ancf  he  rejoiced  in  the  belief  that  she  was  conva- 
lescent; but  only  five  days  after  that  time  “she  mounted 
the  spirit  chariot,  and  went  the  long  journey.”  The 
emperor  himself  drew  up  the  official  account  of  her 
death  and  his  own  great  grief.  “ We  have  been  happy,” 
said  the  paper,  “ in  attending  to  her  behests,  as  men  are 
rejoiced  by  the  sun  which  prolongs  their  lives ; but  we 
shall  never  see  her  again,  we  can  never  more  look  upon 
her  affectionate  countenance,  and  we  are  inconsolable ! 
We  received  her  last  orders  that  mourning  should  be 
worn  only  twenty-seven  days ; but  we  cannot  be  satisfied 
with  this,  and  therefore,  as  is  right,  we  ourselves  shall 
put  on  the  filial  garb  for  a hundred  days,  twenty-seven 
of  which  we  shall  pass  in  deep  mourning.”  By  his 
command  divine  honors  were  rendered  to  her  through- 
out the  whole  empire;  and  in  every  important  city 
tablets  were  erected  to  commemorate  her  extraordinary 
virtues. 

Tau-kwang  passed  the  twenty-seven  days  near  the 
coffin,  dressed  in  sackcloth,  fasting  with  severity,  drink- 
ing nothing  but  water,  and  sleeping  near  the  remains  of 
the  dead  on  a hard  couch.  This  seems  to  have  finally 
broken  the  health  of  the  aged  emperor,  who  died  about  the 
end  of  March,  1851,  after  a troubled  reign  of  thirty  years. 

24 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 

rpHE  Opium  War  may  be  considered  to  be  the  grand 
crisis  in  the  history  of  China — the  point  whence 
may  be  dated  the  change  from  the  old  things  which 
had  existed  for  twenty  centuries  to  the  new  things 
which  are  to  give  her  a place  in  the  sisterhood  of 
Christian  nations,  in  the  temple  illuminated  by  the 
thousand  new  lamps  wherewith  modern  scientific  labors 
have  dissipated  the  superstitions  of  the  past,  and 
cheered  with  new  hopes  and  enjoyments  the  heart  of 
man.  Its  decisive  events  have  been  related  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  of  this  volume.  It  was  watched  with 
extraordinary  interest  by  all  the  nations  of  the  civilized 
wrorld.  Let  us  now  proceed  summarily  to  trace  its 
results. 

The  most  painful  one  was  the  ascendency  which  it 
gave  to  those  who  used  their  power  for  the  purpose  of 
forcing  opium  upon  the  Chinese  nation  and  for  over- 
awing or  corrupting  the  officers  of  the  government. 
And  the  advantage  gained  was  pushed  until  it  was  con- 
summated in  the  legalization  of  the  opium  trade.  Not 
that  there  were  not  other  objects  before  the  mind  of  the 
British  people;  but  the  most  valuable  article  of  the 
commerce  which  they  hoped  to  extend  was  opium  ; none 

370 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  T VAR. 


371 


was  more  vitally  connected  with  the  prosperity  of  their 
finances  in  India,  none  more  necessary  as  a commercial 
equivalent  for  Chinese  exports.  Opium  has  more  than 
any  other  cause  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  difficulties 
with  the  Chinese  government  and  people  for  two  gener- 
ations past. 

The  growth  of  the  use  of  opium  by  the  people  of  this 
empire  is  one  of  the  strange  mysteries  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  The  poppy  and  its  extract,  opium,  were  known 
to  the  ancient  world.  The  Jews  seem  to  have  employed 
its  virtues  as  a narcotic  several  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era.1  The  Greek  and  Latin  classical  writers 
often  introduce  allusions  to  it  in  their  prose  and  poetry.2 
The  Turks,  Persians  and  several  Asiatic  nations  have 

1 Neither  of  the  words  “ poppy”  or  “ opium”  occurs  in  our  translation  of  the 
Scriptures,  but  there  are  evident  allusions  in  both  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments to  the  poppy,  which  abounds  in  Palestine.  The  capsules  or  “heads” 
of  it  are  supposed  by  Gasenius  to  be  referred  to  in  the  Hebrew  ( rosh ) of 
Deut.  xxxii.  32  and  elsewhere.  The  word  rendered  “hemlock”  in  Hos.  x.  4 
is  the  same.  The  “ water  of  gall,”  in  Jer.  viii.  14,  was  a decoction  of  it. 

2 Homer  gives  us  descriptions  of  the  effects  of  opium  as  used  on  the  coasts 
of  the  Mediterranean  sea  three  thousand  years  ago.  In  the  Odyssey  (book  x.) 
he  narrates  how  Circe  stupefied  the  companions  of  Eurylochus  and  then 
changed  them  to  swine.  The  following  is  Pope’s  translation  of  the  passage : 

“On  thrones  around,  with  downy  coverings  graced, 

With  semblance  fair,  the  unhappy  men  she  placed. 

Milk  newly  pressed,  the  sacred  flour  of  wheat, 

And  honey  fresh,  and  Pramnian  wines,  the  treat; 

But  venomed  was  the  bread,  and  mixed  the  bowl 
With  drugs  of  force  to  darken  all  the  soul : 

Soon  in  the  luscious  feast  themselves  they  lost. 

And  drank  oblivion  of  their  native  coast. 

Instant  her  circling  wand  the  goddess  waves, 

To  hogs  transformed  them,  and  the  sty  receives. 

No  more  was  seen  the  human  form  divine ; 

Head,  face  and  members  bristle  into  swine. 

Still  cursed  with  sense,  their  minds  remain  alone, 

And  their  own  voice  affrights  them  when  they  groan." 


372 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE 


long  used  it  to  a limited  extent.  But  it  was  not  till  the 
present  century  that  the  demon  of  opium  seemed  to 
awake  to  the  dreadful  appetite  for  destruction,  and  go 
forth  to  be  one  of  the  direst  enemies  of  the  human 
race. 

In  China,  the  British,  observing  the  passion  of  some 
of  the  Hindus  for  its  use,  and  the  readiness  with  which 
it  was  communicated  to  the  quiet  and  thoughtful  Chi- 
nese, began  to  import  it  to  Canton  just  before  the  period 
of  the  Revolutionary  War  in  this  country,  and  at  a time 
when  the  profligacy  and  insane  greed  for  money  of  War- 
ren Hastings  and  his  corrupt  associates  in  the  East  India 
Company  seemed  to  have  stupefied  the  conscience  of  the 
nation.  From  a few  hundreds  of  chests  in  a year  the 
trade  had  grown  at  the  time  of  the  Opium  War  to  thirty 

The  stimulating  and  intoxicating  influence  of  opium  was  often  infused  into 
wine.  This  is  described  in  book  iv.  of  the  same  poem : 

“ Bright  Helen  mixed  a mirth-inspiring  howl ; 

Tempered  with  drugs  of  sovereign  use  to  assuage 
The  boiling  bosom  of  tumultuous  rage ; 

To  clear  the  cloudy  front  of  wrinkled  care, 

And  dry  the  tearful  sluices  of  despair. 

Charmed  with  that  potent  draught,  the  exalted  mind 
All  sense  of  woe  delivers  to  the  wind. 

Though  on  the  blazing  pile  his  parent  lay,  t 

Or  a loved  brother  groaned  his  life  away, 

Or  darling  son,  oppressed  by  ruffian  force, 

Fell  breathless  at  his  feet,  a mangled  corse, 

From  morn  to  eve,  impassive  and  serene. 

The  man  entranced  would  view  the  deathful  scene.” 

The  source  whence  the  knowledge  of  these  medicinal  or  intoxicating  vii 
tues  was  derived  is  mentioned.  It  was  in  Egypt,  that  India  of  the  West— 

“ Where  prolific  Nile 

With  various  simples  clothes  the  fattened  soil ; 

With  wholesome  herbage  mixed,  the  direful  bane 
Of  vegetable  venom  taints  the  plain.” 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


373 


thousand  chests,  and  has  now  risen  to  eighty  thousand 
chests  yearly. 

The  effects  of  this  dreadful  poison  upon  the  human 
system  are  utterly  destructive  to  the  health  of  the  body 
and  the  clear  use  of  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  to  the 
happiness  of  the  unfortunate  family  of  the  victim,  to  his 
success  in  business  and  to  his  usefulness  to  society.  The 
face  becomes  pale  and  haggard,  the  eyes  moist  and  va- 
cant, the  whole  expression  miserable  and  idiotic.  The 
body  wastes  to  a skeleton,  the  joints  are  tortured  with 
pain.  The  sensation  of  gnawing  in  the  stomach  when 
deprived  of  the  drug  is  described  by  those  addicted  to 
its  use  to  be  like  the  tearing  of  its  tender  coats  by  the 
claws  of  an  animal  of  prey,  while  a return  to  it  fills  the 
brain  with  horrid  and  tormenting  visions  like  the  mania 
of  delirium  tremens.  I have  seen  strong  men,  when 
unable  to  obtain  their  accustomed  dose,  crazy  with  the 
suffering,  the  face  crimsoned  in  some  cases,  and  the  per- 
spiration streaming  down  in  a shower.  Few  individuals 
of  those  whom  it  possesses  are  able  to  find  a sufficient 
antidote.  The  subject  lingers  a few  years,  and  a dreary 
and  unpitied  death  ends  the  scene.  This  is  the  history 
of  tens  of  thousands  in  China,  as  well  as  in  other  coun- 
tries. This  most  terrible  form  of  intemperance  affects  all 
classes  of  society,  from  the  most  powerful,  wealthy  and 
learned  to  the  most  wretched  beggar.  One  sees  the 
lowest  and  vilest,  even  the  impoverished  and  rotten  lep- 
ers without  the  walls  of  the  cities,  drunk  with  it.  When 
they  cannot  find  money  to  purchase  the  drug,  they  buy 
the  dirt  which  remains  after  it  is  refined,  and  abjectly 
scrape  the  bowls  of  the  pipes  used  by  their  more  favored 
brethren,  and  smoke  this  refuse.  Women  learn  the 


374 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


habit  from  their  husbands  and  brothers,  and  when  the 
woeful  penalty  of  this  indulgence  comes  upon  the  family, 
they  find  in  opium  a ready  and  familiar  instrument  to 
cut  the  thread  of  life  and  drop  into  the  gulf  of  an  un- 
known and  dark  future. 

The  introduction  of  opium  was  resisted  with  the  most 
noble  fidelity  to  the  best  interests  of  his  subjects  by  the 
emperor  Tau-kwang.  When  importuned  by  some  of 
the  officers  of  the  government  to  consent  to  the  legaliza- 
tion of  the  trade,  he  replied  that  he  would  not  consent 
to  derive  a revenue  from  that  which  destroyed  the  lives 
and  happiness  of  his  people.  No  words  could  present 
the  case  more  strongly  than  those  used  by  one  of  them- 
selves, who  thus  describes  the  calamities  which  he  saw 
around  him  or  in  the  future : Opium  is  the  author  of 

the  most  pressing  evils  to  the  nation,  the  consumer  of  its 
substance,  the  destroyer  of  its  people,  the  corrupter  of 
its  officers  and  the  plotter  of  its  final  subjugation.” 

At  first,  the  foreign  supply,  with  the  severity  of  the 
laws  against  its  cultivation  and  use,  sufficed  to  prevent 
attempts  toward  a home  production  of  opium.  But  of 
late  years,  in  the  west,  and  in  provinces  where  the  control 
of  the  government  is  less  recognized,  considerable  quanti- 
ties of  it  are  now  raised,  adding  probably  to  the  total 
amount  used  in  the  empire  not  less  than  one-half  more 
than  the  quantity  which  is  obtained  from  abroad.  When, 
beyond  the  loss  produced  by  the  sending  out  of  the  coun- 
try about  fifty  millions  of  dollars  a year  in  specie,  and 
the  abstraction  of  that  vast  sum  from  the  industrial  and 
commercial  employments  of  the  people,  we  consider  that 
which  arises  from  the  devotion  of  a large  number  of 
people  at  home,  and  of  a very  extensive  share  of  the 


RESULTS  OF  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


375 


soil  to  tlie  growth  of  this  noxious  plant,  and  the  incalcu- 
lable amount  of  corruption  and  vice  which  directly  flow 
from  the  whole  traffic,  then  we  are  able  to  imagine 
something  of  its  general  disastrous  results  to  the  nation. 

If  we  would  form  a more  exact  conception  of  the 
greatness  of  the  injury  wrought  by  this  poison,  we  must 
follow  it  to  the  homes  of  the  individuals  who  use  it, 
amounting  to  not  less  than  twelve  millions  of  adults, 
representing  the  interests,  the  moral  character  and  the 
happiness  of  sixty  millions  of  the  population  who  suffer 
directly  from  its  effects. 

The  profits  of  the  opium  trade  to  Great  Britain  are 
enormous — not  less  than  twenty  to  twenty-five  millions 
of  dollars  a year.  According  to  the  estimate  of  an  Eng- 
lish newspaper  published  in  China,1  the  total  profit 
from  the  time  when  the  trade  began  until  the  year  1854 
was  in  round  numbers  three  hundred  and  ten  millions 
of  dollars,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present  it  is  three 
hundred  and  forty  millions  more.  The  total  is  about 
six  hundred  and  fifty  millions  in  sycee  silver — that  is, 
silver  without  alloy,  paid  by  weight.  This  is  the  actual 
net  profit  to  the  producer  upon  a trade  which  amounts 
to  from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand  chests  a year,  which 
are  worth  in  all  from  forty  to  sixty  millions  of  dollars.2 

1 The  North  China  Herald,  of  Shanghai. 

5 The  total  import  of  opium  into  China  at  fourteen  ports  (as  computed  by  the 
China  Overland  Trade  Report)  amounted  in  1866  to  81,750  chests.  Of  this 
amount,  37,775  chests  contained  Malwa  opium,  the  average  price  of  which  at 
Hong-kong  was  $807.70  per  chest,  amounting  to  $30,510,867.  The  remaining 
43,975  chests  contained  Patna  and  Benares  opium,  the  average  price  of  which 
was  $630.30  per  chest,  amounting  to  $27,717,442.  Adding  these  two  quantities, 
we  have  the  number  of  chests  of  opium  imported  into  China  in  1866,  amounting 
in  value  to  the  sum  of  $58,228,309.  If  we  compare  this  with  the  balance  of  the 
commerce  of  foreign  nations  with  that  country,  the  conclusion  is  most  painful. 


376 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  extent  of  the  responsibility  of  the  British  govern- 
ment for  the  production  and  sale  of  opium  I prefer  to 
state  in  the  words  of  one  of  its  own  subjects.  The  Cal- 
cutta correspondent  of  the  London  Times  thus  presents 
the  case  for  the  consideration  of  the  readers  of  that  in- 
fluential paper: 

“What  are  the  facts?  As  to  Bengal,  I have  gone 
through  the  poppy-fields  of  Shahabad,  and  have  wit- 
nessed every  detail  of  the  manufacture  in  the  enormous 
go-downs  of  Patna.  Under  a severe  contract  law,  twice 
as  penal  as  any  that  has  ever  been  proposed  for  ordinary 
agricultural  progress,  and  scouted  by  England,  advances 
of  money  are  annually  made  to'  the  peasants  of  Behar, 
Benares  and  elsewhere.  The  state  lies  out  of  these  ad- 
vances for  a year.  Its  establishment  of  highly-paid 
officials  and  oppressive  or  colluding  native  subordinates 
supervises  every  detail — the  preparation  of  the  fields,  the 
sowing,  the  weeding,  the  scraping  of  the  capsules,  the 
collection  of  the  crude  juice,  its  transit  to  the  state  fac- 
tory and  its  sale  in  Calcutta.  Yet,  in  spite  of  its  estab- 
lishments, smuggling  is  the  rule. 

“ The  state  of  the  case  is  this : China  will  have  opium 
just  as  England  will  have  gin  and  Scotland  whisky. 

The  amount  of  tea  exported  from  the  open  ports  of  China  in  1866  was  1,183,042 
peculs  (of  140  lbs.  each,  amounting  to  165,625,880  lbs.),  which,  at  an  average 
price  of  $36  per  pecul,  amounted  to  $42,589,512.  The  amount  of  raw  silks  ex- 
ported from  Chinese  ports  in  1866  was  32,462  peculs,  which,  at  an  average  rate 
of  $600  per  pecul,  amounted  to  $19,477,200.  So  that  the  entire  exports  of  tea 
and  raw  silk  were  worth  $62,066,712 ; for  which  the  Chinese  received  in  im- 
ports beyond  the  opium  mentioned  but  $3,838,403,  or  about  one-sixteenth  of  the 
value  of  what  they  gave. 

In  1867,  we  learn  from  another  source,  the  total  value  of  the  opium  imported 
was  45,000,000  of  taels,  or  about  $63,000,000.  The  total  exports  from  China  of 
tea  and  silk  together,  for  the  same  year,  were  49,500,000  taels,  or  $69,300,000. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


377 


All  facts  go  to  show  that  the  abuse  of  opium  in  China, 
while  great,  is  by  no  means  equal  to  that  of  alcohol  in 
Europe.  The  moral  question  is  not  whether  China  may 
be  supplied  with  opium,  but  whether  England  as  a na- 
tion, as  the  ruling  power  of  India,  ought  in  its  official 
and  national  character,  to  grow,  manufacture  and  export 
the  drug,  the  use  of  which  has  after  two  or  three  wars 
been  legalized  in  China.  Yet  this  is  the  position  of 
England  at  this  moment  in  relation  to  three-fourths  of 
the  opium  exported  from  India.” 

What  is  the  effect  of  the  opium  trade  upon  Christian 
missions?  The  writer,  and  every  man  who  has  been 
engaged  in  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel,  healing 
the  sick,  instructing  the  young  and  disseminating  the 
word  of  God,  knows  that  the  incessant  and  bitter  ob- 
jection urged  by  all  classes  to  his  efforts  is  that  it  is 
impossible  that  nations  which  carry  opium  in  the  right 
hand  can  have  any  boon  of  mercy  in  the  left.  An  emi- 
nent official  of  the  British  government  has,  in  a late 
work,1  tried  to  throw  the  blame  of  the  great  hostility  of 
the  Chinese  to  the  residence  of  foreigners  at  the  ports 
which  have  been  “opened”  by  the  cannon  and  the 
sword,  upon  the  Christian  missionaries.  He  says  in  it : 
“ What,  in  effect,  is  the  natural  and  necessary  effect  of 
Christianity  as  the  gospels  have  delivered  it  to  us? 
Is  it  not  of  necessity  antagonistic,  entirely  subversive  to 
the  whole  scheme  of  government,  which  claims  for  the 
head  of  the  state  divine  honors,  and  places  the  will  of 
the  emperor  on  the  footing  of  a decree  from  Heaven  ?” 
No  ! It  is  subversive  of  the  idolatry  of  the  government, 
but  not  of  the  monarchical  form  of  it.  The  emperor  Con- 

1 Sir  Rutherford  Alcock,  Three  Years  in  Japan,  chap,  xxxvii. 


378 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


stantine  held  the  throne  of  Rome  no  less  firmly  when  he 
inscribed  the  cross  upon  his  standard,  and  exchanged 
the  superstitions  of  paganism  for  the  principles  of  justice 
and  charity.  Nor  is  the  authority  of  Queen  Victoria 
and  of  British  law  less  submissively  obeyed  because  the 
British  people  are  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  em- 
perors Shun-chi  and  Kang-hi  did  not  resist  and  perse- 
cute Christianity  when  it  presented  itself  as  a wise  and 
beneficent  system  of  truth,  or  until  the  sects  of  Roman 
priests  contradicted  its  first  reputation  by  their  quarrels, 
covetousness  and  interference  with  the  political  affairs  of 
the  empire.  Since  the  book  referred  to  was  written  this 
gentleman  has  urged  upon  the  government  which  he 
represents  a restrictive  policy  with  reference  to  mission- 
ary operations  in  the  interior  of  China ; and  his  views 
have  been  brought  before  Parliament  by  Lord  Clarendon 
and  other  members.  The  consequence  has  been  a reply 
containing  a fair  statement  of  the  truth  from  the  mis- 
sionaries in  China.  They  confirm  this  by  some  forcible 
illustrations.  The  following  is  one  of  them : A missionary 
was  driven  out  of  Ho-nan  by  a mob  led  on  by  the  native 
gentry,  whose  feeling  was  shown  by  shouting  these 
words  after  him,  “ You  burned  our  palace ; you  killed 
our  emperor ; you  sell  poison  to  our  people ; now  you 
come  professing  to  teach  us  virtue !” 

The  opium  traffic  in  India  and  China  is  the  darkest 
stain  upon  the  Christianity  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Its  calamitous  effects  are  felt  wherever  the  people  of 
China  emigrate  and  wherever  the  products  of  China  are 
carried  over  the  whole  world.  In  the  arrest  of  it  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  are  more  deeply  interested 
than  any  other  people  outside  of  China.  Opium  puts  a 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


379 


^reat  stone  in  the  path  of  the  commerce  with  Eastern 
Asia ; it  hinders  the  development  of  departments  of  in- 
dustry on  our  Pacific  coast,  which  would  discover  and 
furnish  numerous  useful  materials  and  manufactures  to 
supply  that  commerce,  and  thus  render  great  benefits  to 
either  continent ; it  is  planting  seeds  of  enervation,  crime 
and  disease  in  the  Chinese  who  are  coming  to  our  shores, 
and  creating  corresponding  vexation  and  injury  to  us; 
it  keeps  the  sword  of  war  continually  unsheathed  and 
wet  with  blood,  the  torch  of  conflagration  constantly 
burning,  and  every  puff  of  hostile  wind  distributing  its 
sparks  amidst  materials  which  are  ever  ready  to  burn 
hotly ; it  makes  the  benevolent  efforts  of  the  preacher 
of  the  gospel  of  mercy,  and  of  the  Christian  physician 
and  teacher,  appear  like  shallow  and  abominable  hypoc- 
risy, and  the  word  of  God  itself  something  false  and 
hateful,  when  offered  by  hands  imbrued  with  so  stupen- 
dous a crime  against  humanity  and  justice,  against  the 
conscience  of  man  and  against  the  laws  of  Heaven. 

Would  that  it  were  possible  to  say  that  the  hands  of 
American  merchants  have  not  been  stained  by  conni- 
vance with  the  crime  of  the  opium  trade  in  China ! We 
are  grateful  to  God  that  it  has  not  been  made  “ an  offi- 
cial and  national  ” business  “ to  grow,  manufacture  and 
export  the  drug”  by  any  other  nation  than  Great 
Britain  and  its  Indian  dependencies.  But  our  ships 
have  helped  to  convey  and  distribute  the  poison ; our 
merchants  have  partaken  to  some  extent  in  the  profits 
of  the  work ; and  we  have  given  it  a garment  of  respect- 
ability by  the  deceitful  pleas  with  which  we  have  palli- 
ated its  enormity. 

Nor  do  we  lightly  or  censoriously  tell  the  tale  of 


380 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


England’s  shame.  She  is  our  great  Protestant  sister 
amidst  the  European  nations ; the  nearest  to  us  in  blood 
and  spirit;  and  the  one  most  interested  with  us  in 
breaking  every  yoke  and  letting  the  oppressed  go  free, 
in  sending  forth  the  light  which  alone  can  dispel  the 
gross  darkness  of  the  heathen.  But  in  the  spirit  of  one 
of  her  faithful  sons  we  would  point  out  her  offences,  that 
they  may  be  amended.  The  opium  trade  was  begun  by 
a most  unprincipled  and  avaricious  Company.  One  of 
her  noblest  poets  has  painted  its  picture.  His  admoni- 
tion as  to  the  end  of  such  policy  should  be  heeded : 

“ Merchants,  unimpeachable  of  sin 
Against  the  charities  of  domestic  life, 

Incorporated,  seem  at  once  to  lose 
Their  nature ; and,  disclaiming  all  regard 
For  mercy  and  the  common  rights  of  man, 

Build  factories  with  blood,  conducting  trade 
At  the  sword’s  point,  and  dyeing  the  white  robe 
Of  innocent  commercial  justice  red.” — 

Britain  “ is  rigid  in  denouncing  death 
On  petty  robbers ; and  indulges  life 
And  liberty,  and  ofttimes  honor  too, 

To  peculators  of  the  public  gold, 

That  thieves  at  home  must  hang ; but  he  that  puts 

Into  his  gorged  and  bloated  purse 

The  wealth  of  Indian  provinces,  escapes  ; 

Nor  is  it  well,  nor  can  it  come  to  good.” 1 


The  reign  of  the  emperor  Tau-kwang  will  be  commem- 
orated in  history  on  another  account  than  that  of  the 
direct  events  of  the  Opium  War.  In  the  forests,  when 
a fire  has  burned  off  the  old  trees  of  one  kind,  it  is  ob- 
served that  it  is  another  kind  generally  which  springs 
up  vigorously  in  its  place.  So  the  great  Husbandman 
orders  it  with  the  race  of  man.  The  calamities  of 


1 Wm.  Cowper,  Task,  books  i.  and  iv. 


,§P  .sSte  „ 

'ial 


wmh 


:^u~f> 


§gg it 

l.sl'm 


«I 


■mm 

^><MW 


'mt1 


RESULTS  OF  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


381 


nations — war,  pestilence,  famine — allow  Him  to  plant 
among  them  some  better  seed  and  secure  some  more  use- 
ful crop.  Great  religious  reformations  are  often  seen  to 
follow  them. 

For  twenty-seven  years  previous  to  the  termination  of 
the  charter  of  the  East  India  Company,  a solitary,  hum- 
ble Dissenting  minister,  amidst  the  unconcealed  contempt 
and  scoffing  of  its  aristocratic  merchants  and  clerks,  sat 
engaged  in  the  great  elementary  work  of  Christian  mis- 
sions, the  compilation  of  a dictionary  and  the  translation 
of  the  revelation  of  God  to  man  into  the  language  of  the 
people.  The  company’s  charter  expired  in  the  year 
1834;  and  in  that  year  he  died.  Its  work  and  his 
work  were  to  give  place  to  a new  order  of  things. 

Morrison  was  joined  at  Canton  hut  four  years  previous 
to  his  death  by  Bridgman,  an  American.  The  life  of 
this  first  missionary  from  our  country  was  spent,  chiefly, 
in  company  with  S.  W.  Williams,  who  had  also  charge  of 
the  printing,  in  the  editorship  of  the  Chinese  Repository, 
a monthly  magazine  which  for  twenty  years  continued  to 
pour  out  information  designed  to  inform  and  interest  our 
country  and  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the  character, 
literature,  public  affairs  and  religion  and  spiritual  wants 
of  the  empire  of  China.  It  has  been  replaced  by  several 
weekly  newspapers  published  by  foreigners  at  the  ports 
open  to  their  trade ; by  another  monthly  missionary  pe- 
riodical, the  Chinese  Recorder,  issued  recently  by  the 
American  Methodist  missionaries  atFuh-chau;  and  by 
several  periodical  publications  at  various  ports  in  the 
Chinese  language  and  character. 

New  translations  of  the  Scriptures  in  more  idiomatic 
Chinese  have  been  made  by  Drs.  Medhurst  and  Gutzlaff, 


382 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


by  missionaries  connected  with  Baptist  societies,  and  by 
a committee  of  missionaries  of  different  societies  meet- 
ing at  Shanghai,  in  behalf  of  the  great  Bible  Societies 
of  this  country  and  Great  Britain.  The  last  mentioned 
is  the  most  satisfactory,  yet  it  must  in  time  yield  to  some 
one  more  perfect,  in  which  Oriental  students  of  the  Ori- 
ental styles  of  thought  and  illustration  shall  be  able  to 
give  to  the  Church  of  the  Land  of  Sinim  a translation 
which  shall  be  universally  acceptable  and  permanent. 

The  living  expositor,  taking  the  Word  in  his  hand, 
followed  the  openings  of  commerce.  Chapels  were  speed- 
ily opened  at  ports  where  foreigners  were  allowed  to 
resort,  and  in  the  neighboring  villages.  And  multitudes 
of  the  Chinese  crowded  to  see  and  hear  them — to  see 
their  strange  raiment ; and  to  hear  warnings  against  the 
worship  of  gods,  sages  and  ancestors,  which  in  some 
breasts  aroused  bitter  scorn  and  rage,  but  in  others  cu- 
riosity to  know  what  better  things  these  men  had  to 
give,  for  many  are  weary  of  the  silly  and  vapid  fables 
wrhich  their  fathers  brought  from  India. 

Numerous  translations  of  foreign  books,  or  compila- 
tions from  them  in  Chinese,  were  prepared  by  the  mis- 
sionaries ; among  which  were  histories  of  the  world,  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  Jewish  nation;  treatises  on 
geography,  astronomy,  medicine,  anatomy  and  vaccina- 
tion; almanacs  filled  with  a variety  of  information;  and 
other  volumes  and  tracts  suitable  for  family  reading  and 
to  interest  both  young  and  old  readers. 

Next  in  the  train  followed  missionary  hospitals. 
Charitable  surgeons  of  the  East  India  Company  had 
done  something  for  the  relief  of  the  unlimited  amount 
of  suffering  about  them.  In  1835,  Dr.  Peter  Parker 


RESULTS  OF  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


383 


commenced  a hospital  at  Macao,  which  was  transferred 
to  Canton.  Several  thousands  of  patients  each  year 
have  received  gratuitous  medicines  from  its  dispensary 
or  been  cared  for  in  its  wards.  The  writer  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  assisting  there  in  medical  labors  and  in 
preaching  statedly  the  gospel  in  the  native  tongue,  while 
residing  in  that  city.  The  institution  is  now  under  the 
care  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr.  Several  pupils  have  been  made 
well  acquainted  with  medical  science  by  the  instruction 
there  furnished.  Some  of  the  most  distinguished  officers 
and  gentry  of  the  province  and  of  other  parts  of  the 
empire  have  been  indebted  to  the  hospital  for  relief. 
And  probably  millions  of  copies  of  tracts  and  Christian 
gospels  have  been  distributed  thence,  with  the  glowing 
tongue  of  grateful  patients  to  interpret  their  truths,  to 
every  part  of  the  country.  Several  other  hospitals  have 
followed  in  the  work  of  doing  good  to  both  body  and 
soul ; those  at  Ningpo,  Shanghai  and  Hong-kong  have 
been  specially  useful.  A medical  society,  supported  by 
contributions  from  the  foreign  merchants,  has  for  more 
than  twenty  years  paid  the  expenses  of  medicines  and 
other  necessaries.  The  building  was  generously  fur- 
nished for  the  hospital  at  Canton  by  Howqua,  a leading 
Chinese  merchant,  who  thus  became  in  reality  the  prin- 
cipal contributor  to  its  support. 

Provision  for  the  education  of  the  young  was  the 
next  step  in  the  great  work  of  Christian  missions.  The 
Morrison  Education  Society,  formed  at  Hong-kong,  estab- 
lished a school  in  1835  as  a monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  founder  of  Protestant  missions  in  China.  Its 
pupils  have  been  well  trained,  and  several  of  them  have 
become  efficient  and  useful  men  in  various  spheres  of 


384 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


life.  The  missions  of  the  several  boards  and  societies 
represented  in  China — American,  British,  or  composed 
of  men  from  the  continent  of  Europe — have  generally 
aimed  to  plant  good  schools  at  their  more  prominent 
stations.  Thousands  of  youths  have  in  these  been  taught 
the  most  useful  elements  of  our  knowledge  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  Some  of  the  young  men  have 
been  made  acquainted  with  the  more  advanced  depart- 
ments of  science.  A few  of  the  most  promising  of  them 
have  been  sent  to  institutions  of  learning  in  America 
and  Great  Britain  ; and,  what  will  seem  almost  incredi- 
ble to  our  people,  they  have  not  only  held  their  own  as 
students  in  competition  with  those  of  our  own  race,  but 
some  of  them  have  taken  prizes  or  honors  in  various  de- 
partments, as  in  botany,  whose  nomenclature  at  least 
might  have  been  supposed  too  difficult  for  a native  of 
China  to  master,  and  in  English  composition. 

And  yet  the  missionary  work  was  but  in  its  infancy  at 
this  period.  Missionaries  dared  not  go  much  beyond 
the  six  ports  opened  by  the  several  treaties,  and  a few 
localities  in  their  immediate  vicinity ; and  even  in  those 
places  life  and  property  were  not  safe,  and  the  labors  of 
missionaries  were  hampered  by  the  restrictions  of  the 
government  and  the  opposition  of  the  people.  And  yet 
the  seed  sown  was  taking  root  far  and  wide.  There 
were  evidences  that  people  even  in  remote  provinces 
were  hearing  of  the  new  truths  which  strangers  from 
the  West  preached  to  their  countrymen,  and  were  begin- 
ning to  inquire  what  they  meant.  The  Christian  Scrip- 
tures were  carried  even  to  the  palace  of  the  emperor. 

Tau-kwang — the  “Light  of  Reason” — was  succeeded 
on  the  throne  by  his  son  Yih-chu,  with  the  title  of 


RESULTS  OF  TEE  OPIUM  WAR. 


385 


Hien-fung — “Universal  Prosperity;”  alas  tliat  tlie 
promises  of  hope  should  so  often  become  the  mock  of 
experience ! Instead  of  agricultural  prosperity,  the  reign 
of  the  young  monarch  was  ushered  in  with  a wide- 
spread and  exhausting  famine.  This,  as  usual,  was  fol- 
lowed by  pestilence.  The  cities  and  villages  became 
scenes  of  indescribable  wretchedness;  the  poor  being 
driven  by  suffering  to  desperation  and  crime,  and  the 
rich  to  severity  toward  them  and  to  dissatisfaction  with 
the  government.  The  young  and  inexperienced  em- 
peror, worn  out  with  vain  attempts  to  relieve  and  propi- 
tiate his  subjects,  gave  himself  at  length  to  indifference, 
and  retreated  to  the  chambers  of  the  seraglio  and  the 
society  of  truculent  courtiers,  for  peace.  The  western 
portion  of  the  empire,  remote  and  comparatively  inde- 
pendent, was  overrun  with  bands  of  robbers,  and  its 
population  was  banded  in  treasonable  associations.  The 
officers  of  government  were  inefficient  and  corrupt. 
There  were  witnessed  such  scenes  of  universal  vice 
and  misery  as  those  which  so  often  in  European  his- 
tory have  prepared  the  way  for  great  and  radical 
reformations. 

In  the  summer  of  1850  the  foreigners  upon  the  sea- 
coast  began  to  hear  rumors  of  a strange  religious  move- 
ment in  the  interior,  under  the  name  of  Christianity. 
A remarkable  man,  named  Hung  Sew-tsuen,  at  this 
time  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  had  in  his  twen- 
tieth year,  when  animated  with  the  ambition  for  liberty 
and  political  distinction  which  is  common  with  the 
brighter  youths  of  China,  gone  to  present  himself  at 
an  annual  examination  in  Canton.  There  our  faithful 
old  friend  Leung  A-fah,  the  preacher  and  colporteur, 

25 


386 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


put  into  his  hands,  as  he  did  into  those  of  thousands 
of  others  each  year,  some  copies  of  Christian  books  com- 
piled from  the  Scriptures  or  explanatory  of  them.  He 
threw  them  carelessly  aside  on  reaching  home,  after 
some  superficial  scanning  of  their  contents.  Four  years 
afterward,  strange  dreams  or  visions  during  a period  of 
sickness  brought  some  of  their  features  to  remembrance. 
But  their  truths  did  not  powerfully  affect  him  till  1847, 
when  a friend  of  his  became  acquainted  with  these  books, 
urged  them  upon  his  attention,  and  together  they  began 
the  anxious  study  of  their  truths.  The  great  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  even  dimly  seen  through  the  medium  of 
an  idolatrous  education,  and  interpreted  by  the  stern 
precepts  and  examples  of  the  Mosaic  books,  so  fired  the 
hearts  of  these  lonely  men  that  they  could  not  but  speak 
what  they  believed.  Hung  Sew-tsuen  determined  to  re- 
visit Canton  and  search  out  the  disciples  of  his  new 
creed.  He  found  the  Bev.  I.  J.  Roberts,  a Baptist  mis- 
sionary, who  gave  him  further  instruction,  but  refused, 
on  account  of  his  imperfect  acquaintance  with  him,  to 
baptize  him  or  license  him  to  preach. 

He  went  back  home,  and  commenced,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  numerous  converts  made  already  by  the  labors 
of  his  believing  kinsmen  and  friends,  to  preach  his 
mongrel  but  earnest  creed.  They  resisted  the  exactions 
of  the  surrounding  idolaters,  were  persecuted,  driven  to 
organize,  arm  and  discipline  themselves  for  self-defence, 
then,  encouraged  by  success,  to  destroy  idol  temples  and 
priests  and  make  battle  with  the  local  government. 
Their  numbers  increased.  In  October,  1850,  they  won 
an  important  victory  over  the  imperial  soldiery.  They 
moved  northward,  conquering  as  they  went.  The  prov- 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


387 


inces  of  Ivwang-si  and  Ho-nan  were  subdued.  In  March, 
1853,  they  besieged  the  populous  and  rich  capital  of  the 
last  native  dynasty,  Nanking,  and  in  eleven  days  took 
it  by  storm,  having  effected  an  entrance  through  a breach 
made  in  the  northern  wall  by  springing  a mine.  They 
put  the  Manchu  garrison  and  their  families,  twenty 
thousand  in  all,  to  the  sword.  Their  discipline  until 
this  time  had  been  most  severe  and  efficient.  They 
strictly  punished  crimes,  and  counted  in  the  list  the  use 
of  opium.  They  observed  the  Jewish  Sabbath  with  the 
scrupulousness  of  the  ancient  Pharisees ; and  the  effect 
of  their  hymns,  as  sung  by  the  strong  masculine  voices 
of  many  thousands  of  soldiers  in  the  acts  of  worship,  is 
described  by  the  American  and  European  visitors  who 
went  from  Shanghai  to  see  them  as  very  grand  and 
inspiring. 

The  Christian  world  was  thrilled  with  the  first  news 
which  reached  them  from  Nanking  of  this  wonderful 
movement.  It  seemed  as  if  a nation  had  been  born  in  a 
day,  and  as  if  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  as  to  the  mighty 
victories  of  the  gospel  were  indeed  about  to  be  realized. 
But  it  soon  became  manifest  that  there  was  much  politi- 
cal corruption,  proud  fanaticism  and  heathen  ignorance 
of  the  principles  of  Christian  truth  mixed  with  it  all. 
It  was  a mercy  of  Heaven  that  this  revolution  was 
brought  to  naught.  A campaign  against  Peking  failed. 
The  European  powers  expelled  them  from  the  vicinity 
of  the  ports  of  Shanghai  and  Ningpo.  Their  discipline 
grew  lax.  Their  forces  were  dispersed  and  demoralized. 
And  the  last  sad  scene  of  all  this  bright  promise  was  the 
fall  of  Nanking  in  July,  1864,  when  multitudes  of  the 
miserable  remnant  of  their  host  were  mercilessly  slaugh- 


388 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tered  by  the  triumphant  and  revengeful  imperialists. 
The  poor  man  who  started  to  be  the  reformer  of  his 
native  empire  came  to  a bloody  end  by  his  own 
hands. 

This  strange  moral  tempest  in  the  sultry  and  dis- 
eased atmosphere  of  China,  while  it  left  wrecks  in  its 
course,  yet  did  something  to  purify  it.  It  taught  the 
empire  that  there  is  one  true  God,  the  Creator  and 
Governor  of  all.  It  made  the  claims  of  the  Sabbath 
universally  and  forcibly  understood.  It  lifted  a protest 
against  the  curse  of  opium,  at  least  for  the  time,  even 
though  some  of  these  men  fell  afterward  into  its  use. 
It  distributed  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  of 
the  Scriptures,  to  be  a seed  which  in  his  own  time  God 
will  water  in  the  hearts  of  millions  with  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  make  a great  means  in  the  final 
renovation  of  Eastern  Asia.  And  it  is  something  most 
affecting,  among  the  ravings  of  fanaticism  and  folly, 
to  find  in  the  proclamations  of  the  leaders  of  this  Tai- 
ping  rebellion  many  of  the  most  precious  and  consola- 
tory Christian  truths  and  announcements,  such  as  these: 
“ The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.” — “ The  whole 
world  together  sings  the  songs  of  peace.” — “ Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  ransom  sinners  by  his  death,  and  be- 
came an  atonement  for  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world.”  Not  China  alone  will 
feel  the  power  of  this  movement.  To  save  his  own  capi- 
tal the  terrified  emperor  sent  into  the  wilds  of  the  north, 
and  brought  thence,  to  contend  with  the  Tai-pings,  large 
forces  of  Manchu  and  other  Tartars,  who  were  thus  made 
acquainted  with  their  principles  and  printed  books.  It 
was  to  no  small  extent  by  their  efforts  that  Peking  was 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


389 


delivered.  Many  a Christian  Bible  has  been  carried 
back  by  them  to  the  tents  of  their  tribes. 

The  government  was  also  under  the  necessity  of  call- 
ing in  European  and  American  aid.  Several  able  offi- 
cers were  employed  to  drill  native  troops,  which  they  did 
so  successfully  as  to  make  them  quite  effective  in  battle. 
The  manifest  superiority  of  the  people  of  Western 
nations  in  the  art  of  war  has  greatly  increased  the  re- 
spect of  the  Chinese  for  them,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  introduction  of  the  sciences  of  peace. 

Having  briefly  sketched  the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  we 
may  return  to  observe  that  the  brief  reign  of  Hien-fung 
was  made  memorable  by  the  tremendous  calamities  in- 
flicted upon  his  country  and  capital  by  a war  of  another- 
character,  and  with  foreign  powers. 

The  Opium  War  was  far  from  subduing  the  pride  of 
the  Chinese.  At  Canton  the  population  refused  to  ac- 
cept the  British  interpretation  of  the  treaties  made  at  its 
close.  Those  of  us  who  resided  there  were  subject  to 
the  incidents  of  a prolonged  conflict.  Difficulties  fre- 
quently occurred  in  which  foreigners  or  natives  were 
killed ; and  we  could  not  go  into  the  streets  of  Canton 
without  meeting  bitter  insults  and  personal  hazard,  or 
venture  into  its  suburbs  or  the  neighboring  villages  with 
the  assurance  of  a return  alive.  At  the  north,  too,  there 
were  occasional  troubles.  At  Shanghai  they  arose  in 
connection  with  questions  relating  to  the  introduction 
of  opium,  the  payment  of  duties,  and  the  reasonable  re- 
sistance of  the  Chinese  authorities  to  the  efforts  of  foreign 
merchants  to  extend  their  excursions  and  trade  into  the 
interior.  Fruitless  attempts  were  made  by  the  British, 
French  and  Americans  to  obtain  concessions  of  larger 


390 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


liberty.  They  and  the  Chinese  were  mutually  irri- 
tated. 

At  length,  in  1856,  the  smouldering  fire  burst  forth, 
and,  as  has  been  too  often  the  case  in  China,  in  a way  to 
put  Christian  nations  apparently  in  the  wrong  and  the 
Chinese  in  the  right.  It  had  been  for  some  time,  in 
consequence  of  the  disordered  state  of  things  upon  the 
coast,  the  habit  of  the  English  authorities  at  Hong- 
kong to  grant  the  protection  of  the  British  flag  to 
native  vessels  engaged  in  carrying  passengers  and  mer- 
chandise.1 These  vessels,  however,  often  took  opium 
on  board,  using  the  dread  of  the  British  power  as  a 
shield  under  which  to  smuggle  it  into  the  interior.  A 
Chinese  vessel  on  the  Canton  river,  manned  by  Chinese, 
and  thus  engaged  in  smuggling,  but  whose  register  had 
expired  a month  before,  was  seized  by  the  Chinese  offi- 
cers. The  governor,  Teh,  at  first  refused  to  surrender 
the  crew,  averring  as  an  additional  reason  that  some  of 
them  were  pirates ; but,  in  compliance  with  the  deter- 
mined demands  of  the  British,  he  at  length  sent  them 
back,  without  an  apology.  He,  however,  subsequently 
promised  not  to  seize  foreign  craft,  but  required  that  for- 
eign nations  should  not  sell  registers  to  Chinese  vessels. 

1 The  English  newspapers  at  the  time  complained  bitterly  of  the  injury  which 
this  practice  was  doing  to  their  own  legitimate  commerce.  The  Friend  of  China, 
published  at  Hong-kong,  declared  that  it  tended  to  prolong  the  rebellion.  That 
paper  said:  “ Canton’s  character  for  supplying  furniture  of  cunning  workmanship 
must  soon  cease  altogether,  unless  we  have  a change ; the  best  of  the  bamboo- 
workers  and  hard-wood  carvers  having  gone  to  the  wars.  Quiescent  as  matters 
appear  on  the  surface,  we  doubt  whether  the  rebellion  was  ever  before  at  such  a 
stage  of  what  may  be  termed  ‘scientic  action,’  as  it  is  now;  and  if  foreign  powers 
will  but  hold  aloof,  the  thing  may  work  out  quicker  than  at  present  is  gener- 
ally expected.  To  Sir  John  Bowring’s  mischievous  practice  last  year  of  grant- 
ing the  British  flag  to  the  Chinese  vessels,  are  we  now  indebted  for  the  long 
delay  and  its  attendant  consequences.” 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


391 


For  this  “insult”  of  capturing  a vessel  of  their  own  na- 
tion, engaged  in  the  violation  of  their  laws,  and  in  intro- 
ducing a poison  which  was  destroying  multitudes  of 
their  people,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Chinese  must  be 
punished. 

The  first  flagrant  act  of  the  war  then  inaugurated  was 
the  bombardment  of  the  great  metropolis  of  southern 
China  in  December,  the  destruction  of  a wealthy  and 
important  portion  of  the  city,  the  slaughter  of  many  in- 
nocent people,  the  beggary  of  many  through  the  plun- 
dering of  their  property  by  the  Chinese  rabble  amidst 
the  confusion,  and  the  subjection  of  the  place  to  the  con- 
trol of  a garrison  of  British  and  French  soldiers  for  two 
years.  Amidst  these  scenes  of  horror  were  some  that 
were  very  affecting.  One  of  them  was  the  distress  occa- 
sioned in  a benevolent  institution,  the  “Asylum1  for  Indi- 
gent Females,”  through  its  being  occupied  by  the  foreign 
troops ; another  was  the  carrying  forth  by  the  Chinese 
of  the  coffins  of  their  deceased  kindred,  which  many  of 
them  seemed  more  anxious  to  bear  away  from  the  dan- 
gers of  warfare  and  conflagration  than  to  save  their 
■wealth  and  furniture,  or  even  their  own  lives. 

It  may  be  briefly  stated  that  in  1858  the  allied  forces 
went  to  the  Pei-ho  river  with  the  purpose  to  reach  Pe- 
king ; they  took  the  fortifications  at  its  mouth,  but  were 
met  by  commissioners  of  the  Chinese  government,  who 
formed  with  them  a treaty,  which  was  signed  on  the 
26th  of  June.  The  force  which  went  on  shore  at  the 
taking  of  the  forts  found,  in  his  rooms  in  a temple,  the 
body  of  the  commanding  officer,  Teh  Kwei,  covered  with 
his  own  blood,  which  he  had  shed  by  cutting  his  throat, 
rather  than  submit  to  the  degradation  and  ruin  inflicted 


392 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


upon  himself  and  his  family  by  his  defeat.  A touching 
and  affectionate  poem  in  memory  of  his  deceased  wife, 
by  the  commissioner  Tan  Ting-siang,  who  was  after- 
ward banished  to  the  frontier  for  his  misfortune  in  being 
connected  with  this  calamity,  was  also  picked  up. 

In  the  treaty  of  Tien-tsin  are  found  two  conspicuous 
articles.  One  guarantees  the  protection  of  the  Chinese 
government  to  Christianity,  with  the  preface  that  “ the 
Christian  religion,  as  professed  by  Protestants  or  Roman 
Catholics,  inculcates  the  practice  of  virtue  and  teaches 
man  to  do  as  he  would  be  done  by.”  Upon  this  point  it 
may  be  remarked  that  in  the  British  treaty  at  the  close 
of  the  Opium  War  in  1842  the  subject  of  Christianity 
was  not  mentioned.  It  is  not  strange  that  after  the  East 
India  Company  had  systematically  labored  to  prevent 
Christian  missions  for  two  hundred  years,  these  diplo- 
matists should  be  loth  to  assume  any  interest  in  them. 
The  commissioner  Lagren6  made  provision  for  the  pro- 
tection of  Christians  in  the  French  treaty  of  the  follow- 
ing year.  The  other  article  in  the  treaty  of  Tien-tsin 
states  that  in  evidence  of  her  desire  for  the  continuance 
of  a friendly  understanding,  her  majesty  the  queen 
of  Great  Britain  consents  to  receive  the  “sum  of  two 
millions  of  taels  ($2,800,000)  on  account  of  losses  sus- 
tained by  British  subjects  through  the  misconduct  of 
the  Chinese  authorities  at  Canton,  and  a further  sum  of 
two  millions  of  taels  ($2,800,000  additional — making 
$5,600,000  in  specie)  on  account  of  the  military  expenses 
of  the  expedition  which  her  majesty  the  queen  has  been 
compelled  to  send  out  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  re- 
dress, and  of  enforcing  the  due  observance  of  treaty  pro- 
visions;” which  was  to  be  paid  “ by  the  authorities  of  the 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


393 


Kwang-tung  (Canton)  province.”  There  was  another 
very  memorable  result  of  this  treaty.  In  the  tariff 
based  upon  the  treaty,  which  was  settled  subsequently 
by  a commission  of  two  representatives  from  each  nation, 
the  legalization  of  the  trade  in  opium  was  so  urgently 
pressed  by  the  English  that  the  Chinese  yielded  their 
consent  to  its  introduction,  subject  - to  a duty  of  thirty 
taels  (forty-two  dollars)  per  chest. 

The  next  year  the  Chinese  met  in  a very  different 
manner  from  what  they  had  anticipated  the  English  and 
French,  who  appeared  off  the  Pei-lio  to  have  their  treaties 
ratified,  accompanied  by  several  American  and  Russian 
vessels  of  war,  containing  representatives  of  those  nations, 
which  had  also  effected  treaties.  They  had  thoroughly 
fortified  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  refused  the  fleet 
admittance,  and  repulsed  the  attacks  made  by  the  allies 
both  from  sea  and  shore  with  a mortifying  and  disastrous 
defeat.  In  1860  the  allies  returned  with  heavy  rein- 
forcements both  of  vessels  and  troops,  destroyed  the  de- 
fences of  the  river,  and  soon  took  possession  of  the  im- 
perial capital. 

The  sacking  of  one  of  the  luxurious  palaces  of  the 
Chinese  emperor  was  a scene  such  as  has  had  few  jjaral- 
lels  in  the  rapine  of  modern  war.  The  wealth  of  East- 
ern rulers  is  accumulated  in  depositories  of  costly  robes 
of  ermine,  sable,  sea-otter,  Astrakhan  lamb  and  other 
rare  furs,  or  of  rich  satin  loaded  with  splendid  em- 
broidery ; in  stores  of  silk  and  crape  in  rolls ; in  mag- 
nificent collections  of  vases  and  other  ancient  porcelain, 
and  figures  in  jade  and  other  stones ; in  vessels  of  gold, 
silver  and  bronze,  of  great  value;  in  caskets  of  ornaments, 
glittering  with  diamonds,  pearls,  emeralds,  rubies  and 


394 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


other  precious  stones ; in  museums  of  curiosities  from 
foreign  lands — clocks,  watches,  musical  instruments  and 
specimens  of  curious  machinery  and  art ; in  large  mir- 
rors ; in  images  and  articles  connected  with  the  worship 
of  the  gods.  Added  to  these  are  libraries  of  books, 
maps  and  pictures,  and  much  that  is  of  real  and  perma- 
nent value. 

Into  these  great  depositories  of  Oriental  wealth,  which 
had  been  multiplying  for  centuries,  the  regiments  of 
European  and  Hindu  soldiers,  maddened  by  liquor, 
utterly  beyond  all  restraint  of  their  officers,  profanely 
plunged,  to  gorge  themselves  with  what  pleased  their 
drunken  fancy,  and  to  destroy  an  equal  amount  out  of 
the  pure  love  of  destruction.  They  dashed  the  vessels 
and  figures  through  the  mirrors ; knocked  down  chan- 
deliers with  clubs ; smashed  to  pieces  or  took  off  porce- 
lain jars  and  jade-stone  figures  and  curious  carvings 
of  ivory  ; and  carried  away  cartloads  of  costly  silks  and 
heaps  of  yellow  imperial  robes  and  court  costumes.  Low 
and  vile  men  made  themselves  rich  with  the  secret  treas- 
ures of  royalty.  The  officers  shared  in  the  intoxication 
of  the  hour.  Some  loaded  their  horses  with  the  costly 
spoil  and  walked  leading  them  to  the  camp.  And  the 
defenceless  chambers  of  princes  were  crowded,  after  the 
foreign  soldiery  had  left,  with  hundreds  of  native  ma- 
rauders from  the  neighborhood,  who  satiated  themselves 
with  the  strange  pillage.  It  was  a grand  national 
burglary ! 

For  weeks  after  this  scene  of  stupendous  robbery  the 
troops  held  a carnival  of  license.  They  turned  upon 
their  native  companions  in  plunder  and  stripped  their 
houses  of  their  ill-gotten  wealth.  The  want  of  coin  to 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


395 


pay  for  the  liquor  and  the  eatables  they  wanted  was 
supplied  by  a factitious  currency  of  articles  stolen. 
Thus  a roll  of  silk,  which  was  worth  in  China  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  dollars,  and  in  this  country  two  or  three 
times  that  amount,  was  rated  at  one  dollar.  It  was  a 
sutlers’  paradise. 

Poor  Hien-fung,  on  the  approach  of  the  “foreign 
demons,”  fled  in  terror  to  Jeh-lio,  the  summer  retreat  of 
his  family  in  Tartary.  There,  crushed  with  mortifica- 
tion and  abandoning  himself  to  dissipation,  he  died  the 
next  year  (August  22,  1861),  at  the  early  age  of  thirty. 

Amidst  the  bloodshed  and  desolations  of  the  war  with 
China  there  was  One  overruling  all  for  the  aecomplish- 
ment  of  His  omnipotent  ends  of  good,  “ calling  a raven- 
ous bird”  from  the  West — “the  man  that  executed  his 
counsel  from  a far  country.”  The  immediate  fruit  of 
the  British  treaty  was  the  opening  of  the  new  ports  of 
Niu-chwang  far  to  the  north,  Tung-chau  in  the  northern 
province  of  Shan-tung,  Tai-wan  in  the  beautiful  and  fer- 
tile island  of  Formosa,  Chau-chau  or  Swatow,  east  of  Can- 
ton, and  Kiang-chau  in  the  large  island  of  Hai-nan  on 
the  southern  sea-coast,  west  of  Canton  ; to  these  was  added 
afterward  Tien-tsin,  the  seaport  of  Peking.  Treaties 
have  since  been  made  with  Belgium,  Italy  and  other 
secondary  powers  of  Europe,  which  have  added  also  to 
the  advantages  of  the  rest,  inasmuch  as  each  has  usually 
claimed  the  introduction  in  its  articles  of  a clause  assur- 
ing to  it  all  the  privileges  granted  to  “ the  most  favored 
nation.”  Thus  in  the  treaty  with  Denmark,  in  1863, 
sixteen  ports  are  enumerated  as  being  open  for  trade, 
among  which  appear  those  of  Nanking,  Hang-chau, 
Chin-kiang  and  Kiu-kiang ; the  advantages  allowed  in 


396 


THE  OLDEST  AND  T1IE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


regard  to  trade  on  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  river  are  import- 
ant ; the  coasting  trade  is  thrown  open  to  foreign  ship- 
ping, and  the  restrictions  are  removed  from  the  exporta- 
tion of  some  important  articles  of  food. 

The  chief  anxiety  of  the  French  in  their  recent  claims 
has  been  for  increased  protection  to  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic missions,  through  which  chiefly  their  political  influ- 
ence is  maintained.  Thus  we  find  the  following  article 
in  their  late  treaty  : 

“ The  Christian  religion,  having  for  its  essential  ob- 
ject to  lead  men  to  virtue,  the  members  of  all  Christian 
bodies  (communions)  shall  enjoy  full  security  for  their 
persons,  their  property  and  the  free  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligious worship ; and  entire  protection  shall  he  given  to 
missionaries  who  peacefully  enter  the  country  furnished 
with  passports,  such  as  are  described  in  article  eight.  No 
obstacles  shall  be  interposed  by  the  Chinese  authorities 
to  the  recognized  right  of  any  person  in  China  to  em- 
brace Christianity  if  he  pleases,  and  to  obey  its  require- 
ments without  being  subject  on  that  account  to  any 
penalty.  Whatever  has  been  heretofore  written,  pro- 
claimed or  published  in  China,  by  order  of  government, 
against  the  Christian  faith,  is  wholly  abrogated  and 
nullified  in  all  of  the  provinces  of  the  empire.” 

The  government  of  France  means  by  “the  Christian 
religion  ” simply  Romanism.  It  is  advancing  the  inter- 
ests of  Roman  Catholic  missions  by  all  the  means  at  its 
command.  The  French  minister  has  recently  secured 
from  the  Chinese  government  an  edict  granting  to  the 
foreign  priests  the  right  to  decide  all  questions  of  law 
between  their  followers  and  those  natives  who  do  not 
profess  Romanism.  The  priests  are  thoroughly  in  con- 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


397 


cert  with,  their  political  supporters,  and  are  working 
with  great  energy  to  regain  the  political  influence  which 
they  enjoyed  two  centuries  ago.  Their  statistics  are  not 
to  be  relied  on.  Multitudes  whom  they  claim  as  Chris- 
tians are  simply  idolaters  baptized  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  with  no  Christian  knowledge,  faith  or  life.  But 
it  is  asserted  by  the  Bomanists  that  they  possess  through- 
out the  empire  twenty-four  Catholic  missions,  under  the 
charge  of  nineteen  bishops  and  five  apostolic  prefects, 
who  are  of  French,  Italian,  Spanish  and  Belgian  origin. 
Each  bishop  has  under  him  from  four  to  twenty  Euro- 
pean missionaries.  Each  mission  is  subdivided  into  dis- 
tricts, according  to  the  number  of  European  missionaries. 
They  claim  several  thousand  native  Christians  in  each 
mission.  They  profess  to  have  twenty-four  seminaries,  in 
which  natives  are  taught  Latin,  philosophy  and  theol- 
ogy ; and  numerous  schools  and  orphan  asylums.  The 
most  important  college  is  near  Shanghai,  and  has  three 
hundred  pupils,  who  are  taught  trades,  painting,  draw- 
ing and  Chinese  literature,  and  some  are  sent  to  Peking 
to  take  the  degrees.  The  missions  support  several  print- 
ing-establishments, and  have  issued  several  works  on 
mathematics  and  theology.  The  French  government 
has  demanded,  and  obtained,  the  restoration  of  large 
amounts  of  property,  formerly  belonging  to  various 
orders  of  missionaries,  which  had  been  confiscated  when 
they  were  banished  from  the  empire.  Their  successors 
are  employing  this  to  re-establish  themselves  firmly  in 
some  of  the  principal  cities.  At  Canton  they  are  rear- 
ing a magnificent  cathedral,  which  it  is  expected  will 
cost  three  millions  of  dollars,  overshadowing  in  size  and 
effect  every  other  edifice  in  the  city.  One  at  as  great  a 


398 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


cost  is  to  be  built  in  Peking ; others  are  in  progress  in 
other  cities. 

It  requires  little  explanation  to  show  the  anxiety 
which  the  advances  of  Romanism  awaken  in  the  mind 
of  the  Chinese  government.  Having  in  view  the  expe- 
rience of  his  grandfather  Shun-chi,  and  his  father  Kang- 
hi,  the  emperor  Yung-ching,  upon  whom,  previous  to 
his  accession  to  fhe  throne,  they  had  counted  as  a friend, 
presented  the  reasons  for  it  in  words  which  are  remem- 
bered by  those  who  have  succeeded  him  until  this  day. 
He  well  knew  the  control  which  the  Roman  priests 
assume  over  the  political  actions  of  their  people.  He 
said : 

“ Certain  Europeans  in  the  province  of  F u-kien  have 
been  endeavoring  to  defeat  our  laws  and  trouble  our 
people.  The  chief  men  of  the  province  have  applied  to 
me,  and  I must  repress  this  disorder.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  government  with  which  I am  charged ; and  I 
neither  can  nor  ought  to  act  now  as  I did  when  I was  a 
private  prince.  You  say  that  your  creed  is  not  a false 
one,  and  I grant  this.  But  what  would  you  say  if  I were 
to  send  a troop  of  Buddhist  priests  and  lamas  into  your 
country  to  preach  their  creed  ? How  would  you  receive 
them  ? You  wish  to  make  Christians  of  the  Chinese,  and 
that  is  what  your  creed  demands,  I know  very  well ; but 
wThat,  in  that  case,  would  become  of  us  ? The  subjects 
of  your  king,  the  Christians  whom  you  make,  recognize 
no  authority  but  you  ; in  times  of  trouble  they  would 
listen  to  no  other  voice.  I know  well  enough  that  there 
is  nothing  to  fear  at  present,  but  when  your  ships  shall 
come  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  then,  indeed, 
we  may  have  disturbances.” 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


399 


An  unanticipated  but  very  important  effect  of  the  war 
was  the  opportunity  which  it  gave  to  Russia  to  settle 
favorably  to  herself  several  long-standing  questions  of 
difficulty  with  China,  and  to  secure  the  cession  to  her 
of  a vast  district  of  territory  which  she  had  long  coveted 
in  vain.  The  Russians  began  to  settle  in  Siberia  about 
the  year  1587.  By  the  treaty  of  Nerchinsk,  made  in 
1689,  it  was  agreed  that  the  dividing  line  between  the 
Russian  territories  and  those  of  the  Mongols  and  Man- 
chus  subject  to  the  Chinese  should  be  the  river  Argun 
and  the  range  of  mountains  bordering  the  valley  of  the 
Amoor  on  the  north.  In  order  to  watch  her  interests 
in  Eastern  Asia,  in  1728  Russia  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing a mission  at  Peking,  which  was  to  be  renewed  each 
ten  years.  She  has  gradually  aj)propriated  extensive 
portions  of  Sungaria.  The  war  with  England  and  F ranee 
afforded  an  opportunity  not  to  be  lost  for  urging  a claim 
to  the  valley  of  the  Amoor  river,  which  is  the  artery  of 
communication  between  Eastern  Siberia  and  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  the  key  to  mining  and  agricultural  regions 
of  great  value  to  her.  Russia  had  already  been  pressing 
colonization  to  that  region.  A treaty  was  made,  on  the 
behalf  of  Russia,  by  Count  Nicholas  Muravief,  governor 
of  Eastern  Siberia,  May  28,  1858,  at  Aigun.  This  was 
repudiated,  on  the  ground  of  some  informality,  by  the 
Chinese  government.  A general  treaty  of  peace  be- 
tween the  two  empires  was,  however,  concluded  by  Count 
Putiatin,  at  Tien-tsin,  June  13,  1858,  in  which  Prince 
Kung  represented  the  Chinese  government.  In  1860 
another  opportunity  arose.  Amidst  the  troubles  of  that 
year  the  demand  for  the  cession  of  the  northern  shore 
of  the  Amoor  was  again  urged ; and  on  the  14th  of  No- 


4C0 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  FEWEST  EMPIRE. 


vernber  the  Russian  ambassador,  M.  Ignatief,  signed 
another  treaty  with  Prince  Kung  at  Peking,  by  which 
that  and  far  more  was  yielded.  The  vast  regions  be- 
tween the  Amoor  river  and  the  Olekma  mountains,  ex- 
tending from  the  forty-eighth  to  the  fifty-sixth  degree 
of  latitude,  and  from  the  one  hundred  and  eighteenth  to 
the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  degree  of  longitude, 
with  a tract  several  degrees  in  width  running  down  the 
coast  of  Manchuria  below  the  forty-third  degree,  were 
handed  over  to  Russia,  so  far  as  the  document  shows, 
without  an  equivalent.  The  same  treaty  granted  to  the 
Russians,  who  had  before  been  limited  to  Kiakhta,  the 
right  to  trade  at  Urga  and  Ivalgan,  with  ground  for  a 
trading-post  and  church  at  Kashgar.  Arrangements 
were  also  made  for  frequent  and  rapid  mail  communica- 
tions between  St.  Petersburg  and  Peking  by  way  of 
Iviakhta.  These  have  been  much  increased  since  that 
time,  so  that  now  our  earliest  telegraphic  news  from 
Peking  comes  by  way  of  St.  Petersburg.  A portion  of 
the  territory  granted  by  the  treaty,  it  is  true,  had  been 
long  claimed  by  Russia.  Its  extent  has  been  estimated 
to  be  over  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  square 
miles,  which  is  equal  to  the  surface  of  the  Kew  England 
and  Middle  States,  with  the  Atlantic  States  of  the  South 
down  to  the  Florida  line.  It  contains  valuable  mines. 
Its  commercial  and  industrial  resources  will  be  rapidly 
developed  by  the  Russian  “ Amoor  Company,”  incorpor- 
ated in  1858  with  a capital  of  $800,000,  and  power  to 
increase  it  to  $2,250,000.  The  trade  with  California 
has  already  been  considerable.  In  1861  there  were 
eleven  steamers  running  on  the  Amoor  river,  seven  of 
them  iron.  Four  of  the  eleven  had  been  obtained  in 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


401 


America,  and  several  others  were  soon  to  be  added  to 
the  number  there. 

The  Amoor  is  estimated  to  be  over  two  thousand 
miles  in  length.  The  two  branches  which  form  it, 
called  the  Argun  and  Shilka,  extend  several  hundred 
miles  farther  into  the  heart  of  the  continent.  The 
chief  value  of  the  vast  country  which  the  Amoor  opens 
up  to  commerce  lies  in  its  mines.  Gold,  platinum, 
silver,  lead,  copper,  iron,  arsenic,  marble,  precious 
stones  of  various  kinds,  coal  of  good  quality  and  salt, 
have  been  found  in  it.  The  sable,  ermine  and  other  furs 
exported  have  been  valuable.  Pearls  have  been  found 
in  some  of  the  rivers.  Large  quantities  of  ginseng  are 
dug  by  the  Chinese  on  the  Usuri,  a southern  branch  of 
the  Amoor,  the  sales  of  which  in  one  year  have  amounted 
to  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  port  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Amoor  is  Nicolayevsk.  The  Russians  are 
exporting  thence  their  metals,  woolen  cloths,  leather, 
glass  and  hemp,  and  receiving  in  return  the  products 
of  China,  Japan  and  the  west  coast  of  North  America. 
The  trade  is,  however,  yet  in  its  infancy.  The  Russian 
government  is  pushing  its  railroad  connections  toward 
Chita,  on  the  head- waters  of  the  Amoor  (52°  N.  113°  "YV.), 
And  it  is  urging  the  colonization  of  the  valley  of  the 
Amoor.  It  has  recently  offered  to  the  Fins,  who  have 
suffered  greatly  from  the  failure  of  crops  in  their  own 
country,  inducements  in  the  shape  of  tracts  of  farming- 
lands,  loans  of  money  to  procure  cattle  and  agricultural 
implements,  and  freedom  from  taxes  for  twenty-four 
years.  The  influence  of  these  colonies  upon  the  future 
history  of  China  will  be  very  important. 

The  foreign  commerce  of  China  has  increased  im- 
26 


402 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


mensely  during  the  past  few  years.  Previous  to  the 
termination  of  the  charter  of  the  East  India  Company, 
in  1834,  the  exports  amounted  to  about  thirteen  mil- 
lions of  dollars  a year,  and  the  imports  to  ten  and  a 
half  millions ; in  a dozen  years  afterward  they  had  more 
than  doubled ; in  1868  the  total  exports  were  one  hun- 
dred and  three  and  a half  millions  of  dollars,  the  im- 
ports one  hundred  and  ten  millions.  The  chief  articles 
imported  were  opium,  various  kinds  of  cotton  and  woolen 
goods,  the  precious  metals  and  coal.  Six-sevenths  of 
the  whole  trade  is  carried  on  with  Great  Britain  and 
her  Asiatic  and  Australian  colonies.1 

The  extent  and  character  of  the  commerce  between 
the  continent  of  Europe  and  China  has  been  greatly 
changed  by  the  gradual  increase  of  the  facilities  for  it 
by  the  way  of  the  isthmus  of  Suez.  The  first  attempt 
to  open  an  overland  route  for  the  mails  and  passengers 


1 The  following  is  a summary  of  the  total  foreign  trade  for  the  year  1868 : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Great  Britain 

$63,062,000 

$99,780,000 

Hong-kong 

23,510,000 

13,455,000 

36,965,000 

India 

39,147,000 

396,000 

39,543,000 

Australia  and  New  Zealand.. 

1,102,000 

4,428,000 

5,530,000 

Straits  Settlements  and  Cape. 

1,116,000 

506,000 

1,622,000 

355,000 

355,000 

Total  for  Great  Britain  and  depend’cies.101,593,000 

82,202,000 

183,795,00 

United  States 

1,249,000 

9,875,000 

11,124,000 

Continent  of  Europe  and 

Channel 

Islands 

489,000 

7,831,000 

8,320,000 

Japan 

1,405,000 

5,326,000 

Siam  and  Cochin-China 

1,612,000 

186,000 

1,798,000 

Philippine  Islands  and  Java. 

870,000 

618,000 

1,488,000 

Russia  (overland),  Siberia  and  Amoor 

provinces 

141,000 

1,207,000 

1,348,000 

South  America 

102,000 

348,000 

450,000 

Grand  total 

$109,977,000 

103,672,000 

213,649,000 

RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


403 


to  tlie  East  was  made  by  Lieutenant  Thomas  Waghorn 
of  the  British  navy.  He  encountered  great  difficulties, 
having  been  compelled  to  make  part  of  his  transit  upon 
the  Red  sea  in  an  open-  boat.  But  his  indomitable  energy 
and  courage  triumphed  over  every  obstacle  and  proved 
the  feasibility  of  this  route.  An  attempt  in  1838  to  obtain 
the  co-operation  of  the  merchants  in  China  failed ; but  in 
1844  he  succeeded  in  interesting  the  Lords  of  the  Ad- 
miralty and  British  merchants  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Steam  Company,  which,  in 
August,  1845,  commenced  to  run  a monthly  steamer 
from  Suez,  by  Point  de  Galle  in  Ceylon,  to  Hong-kong. 
The  first  vessel  that  arrived  in  China  was  the  Lady 
Mary  Wood,  which  brought  the  mails  in  fifty  days  from 
London.  The  mail  service  is  now  performed  semi- 
monthly, and  is  extended  to  Shanghai  and  other  ports 
to  the  north,  and  to  Yokohama  in  Japan.  The  ports  on 
the  Mediterranean  where  connections  are  made  in  order 
to  avoid  the  length  of  the  sea- passage  to  Southampton 
are  Marseilles,  Trieste,  and  recently  Brindisi  in  Italy. 

No  achievement  of  the  age  is  more  grand  and  memor- 
able than  that  of  the  completion  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
which  reopens,  after  it  had  been  closed  at  least 
twelve  centuries,  the  communication  between  the  Red 
sea  and  the  Mediterranean.  Conceived  by  Sesostris 
about  the  time  of  the  captivity  of  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt,  partly  excavated  by  Pharaoh  Necos  previous  to 
the  Babylonish  captivity  of  that  people,  again  under- 
taken by  Darius  the  Persian,1  completed  by  the  Greek 


1 Hebodotcs  (ii.  258)  describes  the  course  of  the  canal.  He  says  that  Pha- 
raoh Necos  sacrificed  the  lives  of  a hundred  and  twenty  thousand  Egyptians  in 
excavating  it,  and  that  he  did  not  complete  it,  in  consequence  of  an  oracle  which 


404 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Ptolemies,  and  after  long  disuse  again  opened  for  a time 
by  the  Mohammedan  Khalif  Omar  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury of  our  era,  the  history  of  this  work  covers  more 
than  three  thousand  years  of  time,  and  shows  how  im- 
portant the  commercial  ends  which  could  thus  inspire 
so  many  dynasties  of  rulers.  The  route  of  the  ancient 
canal  was  explored  by  the  officers  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte during  his  campaign  in  Egypt.  Count  Ferdinand 
de  Lesseps,  after  overcoming  difficulties  which  would 
have  discouraged  any  mind  but  one  capable  of  appreci- 
ating the  grandeur  and  usefulness  of  the  enterprise,  and 
of  looking  to  the  perpetuation  of  his  name  in  all  future 
history  as  his  chief  personal  reward,  has  succeeded  in 
uniting  the  two  seas,  at  an  expense  of  eighty  millions 
of  dollars.  The  canal  is  one  hundred  miles  in  length, 
three  hundred  feet  wide  at  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
twenty-four  feet  deep.  It  connects  Port  Said  on  the 
Mediterranean  with  Suez  on  the  Bed  sea.  The  distance 
to  the  ports  of  the  East  will  be  made  about  nine  thou- 
sand miles  shorter  to  vessels  sailing  from  the  commer- 
cial centres  of  Western  Europe,  and  seven  thousand 
miles  to  those  from  our  seaports,  than  by  the  passage 
by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  It  is  estimated  that 
six  millions  of  tons  of  merchandise  will  annually  pass 
through  this  gateway  of  the  oceans,  and  that  the  income 
from  it  will  be  twelve  millions  of  dollars.  Passengers 
from  England  will  reach  Hong-kong  in  China  in  nearly 
the  same  time  by  Suez  or  by  the  Pacific  Bailroad  across 

warned  him  against  it  as  being  a work  that  would  accrue  to  the  benefit  of  bar- 
barian nations. 

Kawlinson,  in  a note  upon  the  above  passage,  says  that  a stone  at  Suez  is 
Inscribed  in  the  Persian  cuneiform  character  with  the  words,  “ Darius,  the 
Great  King.” 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


405 


tliis  continent  and  the  Pacific  mail  steamers  from  San 
Francisco — that  is,  in  forty-one  to  forty-three  days. 

The  past  few  years  of  the  internal  history  of  the  Chi- 
nese empire  have  been,  like  those  preceding,  full  of 
troubles.  In  the  provinces  north  of  the  Yellow  river 
large  districts,  laid  waste  by  previous  rebellions,  remain 
waste  and  desolate,  and  have  been  overrun  by  another 
crop  of  the  same  pestilent  marauders,  who  are  de- 
signated the  Nien-fi  or  “Northern  Rebels.”  Three 
years  ago  they  several  times  defeated  large  imperial 
forces  sent  against  various  divisions  of  them,  and  threat- 
ened the  great  cities  of  Chefoo,  Han-kau  on  the  Yang- 
tsz-kiang  river,  and  even  the  capital  itself.  But  little 
danger,  however,  is  now  apprehended  from  them. 

The  present  condition  of  the  western  provinces  of 
China  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain.  The  country  in  the 
south-west  is  mountainous,  and  partially  inhabited  by 
tribes  of  people  who  differ  much  from  the  Chinese  in 
customs,  language  and  religion.  There  is  a large  Mo- 
hammedan element,  which  has  found  its  home  there  for 
some  centuries  at  least.  Marco  Polo  says  that  the  popu- 
lation of  that  part  of  the  empire  six  hundred  years  ago 
consisted  of  a mixture  of  idolaters,  Nestorian  Christians 
and  Saracens  or  Mohammedans.  The  latter,  according 
to  the  Chinese  accounts,  were  the  descendants  of  some 
tribes  who  were  called  in  by  the  emperors  of  the  Tang 
dynasty  in  the  years  750  to  800  A.D.,  to  aid  them  in 
quelling  domestic  rebellions.  They  are  denominated  by 
the  Chinese  “ Hwuy-sz,”  or  “ Hwui-hwui,”  which  means 
the  Ouigour  Tartars.  The  most  intelligent  of  them  read 
the  Koran  in  Arabic.  They  are  described  as  more  fair 
and  taller  than  the  Chinese.  Many  of  them  wear  turbans. 


406 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


It  is  declared  by  British  officers  in  India,  who  have  seen 
documents  circulated  in  Nepaul  by  these  Mohammedans, 
that  in  the  year  1855  those  of  them  who  were  working 
in  the  Lu-sunfu  silver  mines  of  Yun-nan  rebelled  against 
the  Chinese  government,  and  elected  a sultan  for  them- 
selves, whom  they  arrayed  in  the  imperial  yellow ; and 
that  they  have  maintained  their  independence  until  this 
time.  Other  rebellions  have  been  reported  in  the  west- 
ern provinces  or  dependent  territories  in  the  west  and 
north-west.  But  this  is  evident,  that  on  the  whole  the 
government  is  stronger  than  it  was  some  years  ago. 
The  prophecies,  then  so  frequent  and  so  confident,  of 
the  speedy  downfall  of  the  Manchu  dynasty,  are  now 
rarely  heard.  The  presence  and  aid  of  foreign  nations 
have  contributed  largely  to  this  result. 

The  numerous  and  dangerous  insurrections  against 
the  imperial  authority,  and  the  manifestations  of  the 
vast  superiority  of  the  nations  of  the  West  in  the  art  of 
war,  have  compelled  the  Chinese  to  seek  instruction  and 
assistance  from  them.  Several  American,  English  and 
French  officers  of  ability  have  been  employed  to  disci- 
pline and  command  Manchu  troops.  General  Ward,  an 
American,  especially,  was  respected  and  trusted  by  the 
imperial  government,  to  which  he  rendered  important 
services  in  putting  down  the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  and  in 
the  service  of  which  he  sacrificed  his  life  in  a battle  near 
the  city  of  Ningpo,  in  September,  1862.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  command  by  General  Burgevine,  also  an 
American,  who,  however,  lost  the  confidence  of  the 
authorities,  and  at  length  abandoned  them  for  their 
enemies,  on  account  of  difficulties  about  the  payment  of 
the  soldiers  and  foreign  officers.  He  lost  his  life  by 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


407 


drowning.  An  excellent  English  officer,  Major  Gordon, 
was  of  great  service  in  1863,  in  leading  the  imperial 
troops  in  the  sieges  of  Fu-shan,  Tai-tsan,  Sn-chau  and 
other  important  cities.  He  afterwmrd  gave  instruction 
in  military  science  to  Chinese  officers,  and  drilled  bodies 
of  soldiers  for  them  at  Shanghai.  The  French  com- 
manders lent  several  intelligent  officers  for  the  same 
purposes.  Two  of  these,  Captains  Lebreton  and  De 
Moidry,  were  killed  by  the  rebels  at  Kiu-ting.  Admiral 
Protet  lost  his  life  in  the  same  battle. 

The  English  inspector-general  of  customs  at  Shang- 
hai, Mr.  Lay,  used  his  influence  with  the  Chinese 
government  to  obtain  a commission  to  purchase  for  it 
several  vessels  of  war  in  Great  Britain.  A million  of 
dollars  was  put  in  his  hands  for  the  purpose.  But  he 
went  far  beyond  his  instructions,  incurred  a heavy  debt, 
which  he  secured  in  favor  of  the  British  government 
upon  the  vessels  themselves,  and  added  certain  unjustifi- 
able conditions  designed  to  favor  English  interests.  This 
discreditable  proceeding  provoked  the  just  indignation 
of  Prince  Kung  and  of  the  representatives  of  other  gov- 
ernments ; and,  in  consequence,  the  purchase  was  repu- 
diated by  the  imperial  government  and  the  vessels  were 
sold.  It  has  been  announced  to  be  the  judicious  policy 
of  the  Chinese  to  establish  manufactories  and  ship- 
yards, and  make  their  own  arms  and  build  their  own 
ships. 

The  young  son  of  Hien-fung,  Tsai-chun,  then  only 
seven  years  of  age,  -was  on  the  death  of  his  father  pro- 
claimed emperor,  under  the  name  of  Tung-chi.  The 
empress-dowager,  who  was  not  his  own  mother,  but 
who,  having  no  children  of  her  own,  had  adopted  him  as 


408 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


her  own  son,  according  to  the  Chinese  law,  which  im- 
putes to  the  first  and  proper  wife  the  children  of  the 
secondary  wives,  was  made  regent  at  Jeh-ho.  Several 
other  members  of  the  royal  family  claimed  a share  in  the 
authority,  but  the  brother  of  the  late  emperor,  Yih-su, 
Prince  Ivung,  a very  able  and  determined  man,  went 
there,  promptly  seized  and  condemned  to  death  three  of 
these  rivals,  and  had  himself  proclaimed  joint-regent  with 
her.  He  set  himself  at  once  vigorously  to  work  in  rec- 
tifying abuses,  enforcing  the  laws  over  the  empire,  re- 
pressing the  rebellious  disposition  of  some  portions  of  the 
population,  and  encouraging  the  resumption  of  industry 
and  commerce.  He  found  an  intelligent  and  faithful 
coadjutor  in  the  queen-dowager,  and  in  another  female 
member  of  the  royal  household  possessing  a rank  nearly 
equal  to  hers. 

The  young  emperor,  at  this  time  in  his  sixteenth 
year,  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  strict  and  honest  tutors, 
who  not  only  teach  him  faithfully  the  morality  and 
wisdom  of  Confucius,  but  continually  hold  before  him 
the  noblest  actions  of  his  ancestry  for  his  imitation,  and, 
it  is  said,  do  not  fear  severely  to  reprove  his  faults.  It 
is  expected  that  he  will  during  the  present  year  assume 
the  throne,  as  he  will  soon  reach  the  age  which  has  been 
fixed  as  appropriate  for  him  to  do  so  by  the  precedents 
of  previous  emperors,  especially  that  of  Kang-hi. 

What  imagination  dare  make  the  bold  conjecture  of 
what  the  condition  of  the  empire  will  be  at  its  close,  should 
the  reign  of  Tung-chi  equal  in  length  that  of  Kang-hi  or 
Ivien-lung  ? Will  the  career  of  this  boy  have  been  that 
of  a persecuting  Kero  or  that  of  a believing  Constantine? 
Will  China  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1930  lie  torn  into 


RESULTS  OF  THE  OPIUM  WAR. 


409 


bleeding  fragments  by  tbe  resistance  of  paganism  to  tbe 
necessary  progress  of  the  gospel  and  the  science  of  civ- 
ilized lands — or  will  it  be  a homogeneous  Christian  em- 
pire, one  of  the  grandest  and  strongest  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  shedding  blessings  over  the  entire  continent 
and  its  adjacent  islands,  and  communicating  them  to 
distant  lands  to  which  it  will  have  owed  not  alone  a 
debt  of  great  evil,  but  also  a debt  of  greater  good  ? 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE. 

FTHE  relations  between  our  country  and  China  date 
back  to  the  period  when  the  United  States  were  yet 
the  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  and  even  had  something 
to  do  with  the  measures  which  resulted  in  giving  us 
national  independence. 

The  East  India  Company  early  set  itself  to  the  de- 
velopment of  a trade  in  the  Colonies  which  would  be 
profitable  to  its  treasury.  It  sent  here  some  of  the  tea 
which  it  brought  from  China,  and  sought  for  such  prod- 
ucts of  the  New  World  as  would  afford  a profitable 
return  cargo  for  its  ships,  and  a means  through  which 
it  could  save  the  payment  of  specie  in  exchange  for  the 
merchandise  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  The  ginseng  of 
the  Northern  Colonies  was  one  of  the  first  articles  which 
proved  advantageous  to  its  purposes.  Agents  were  sent 
to  New  England,  who  induced  the  Indians  to  search  for 
this  medicinal,  root  by  rewards  of  money,  whisky, 
trinkets  and  calico.  The  Christian  people  who  were 
interested  in  civilizing  these  wild  tribes,  elevating  their 
morals  and  giving  them  the  blessings  of  the  worship  of 
God  on  the  Sabbath  and  of  education  for  their  children, 
were  sorely  grieved  by  the  vagrant  habits,  the  drunk- 
enness and  other  vices  which  were  fostered  by  this  busi- 

410 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


411 


ness,  and  some  of  the  first  missionaries  to  the  Indians, 
in  their  letters  to  the  churches  of  the  mother-country, 
made  complaint  of  the  injury  which  it  did  to  religion. 

The  East  India  Company  had  some  share  in  the 
political  oppression  which  led  the  Colonies  to  revolt. 
Their  charges  for  tea  were  so  grievous  that  the  people 
were  compelled  to  smuggle  it  from  their  Dutch  neigh- 
bors of  the  colony  of  New  Amsterdam,  on  the  Hudson. 
Lord  Townshend,  in  1767,  carried  a bill  through  Par- 
liament which  laid  a duty  of  three  pence  a pound  on 
tea,  with  something  upon  paper,  glass  and  paints.  This 
only  increased  the  evil,  and  it  aroused  the  question  of 
the  right  to  impose  taxation  upon  those  to  whom  the 
mother-country  allowed  no  political  representation. 
The  colonists  refused  to  use  tea  brought  from  England. 
The  losses  to  the  East  India  Company  were,  in  conse- 
quence, so  great  as  to  threaten  it  with  bankruptcy.  It 
could  not  pay  its  dividends  or  debts,  and  its  stock  went 
down  to  half  its  former  value.  At  the  suggestion  of 
Lord  North,  Parliament  authorized  the  company  to 
ship  its  tea  to  America  without  previously  paying  the 
duty  in  England.  The  people  of  Boston,  of  Philadel- 
phia, of  New  York,  of  Charleston  and  of  other  places, 
now  determined  that  tea  should  not  be  brought  to  the 
country.  The  first  cargoes  came  to  Boston.  And  there 
was  performed  one  of  the  acts  which  began  the  great 
struggle  for  Independence.  On  the  evening  of  the  six- 
teenth of  December,  1773,  a company  of  citizens,  dis- 
guised as  Indians,  seized  three  ships,  which  had  recently 
arrived,  and  without  injuring  any  other  articles,  in  three 
hours  broke  open  three  hundred  and  forty  chests  of  tea, 
and  emptied  what  the  company  had  bought  at  the  fac- 


412 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tories  at  Canton,  and  transported  twenty  thousand  miles, 
out  into  the  icy  and  briny  waters  of  the  harbor.  So  the 
East  India  Company,  the  ill-gotten  wealth  it  poured 
into  the  British  treasury  and  its  Chinese  trade,  have  a 
niche  in  the  history  of  this  nation. 

As  soon  as  the  war  was  ended,  our  people  hastened  to 
engage  for  themselves  in  the  rich  trade  with  China. 
The  ship  Empress,  commanded  by  Captain  Green,  left 
Yew  York  for  Canton  on  the  anniversary  of  the  birth- 
day of  General  Washington,  February  22,  1784,  six 
months  after  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain  was  signed  at  Paris. 

The  development  of  the  commerce  with  China  has 
been  in  a remarkable  and  very  important  manner  con- 
nected with  that  of  our  national  territory,  our  internal 
trade  and  prosperity,  and  even  with  our  missionary 
efforts  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  winter  climate  of  Southern  China  is  raw  and 
changeable ; that  of  the  north  is  quite  cold.  The  people 
cannot  afford  fuel  to  warm  their  houses,  and  so  protect 
themselves  by  an  increase  of  clothing.  The  better 
classes,  from  the  earliest  history  of  the  empire,  have 
been  accustomed  at  that  season  of  the  year  to  clothe 
themselves  with  an  abundance  of  warm  and  rich  furs. 
Bobes  and  capes  of  various  kinds  are  worn,  some  of 
which  are  very  elegant  and  very  expensive.  They  con- 
stitute, indeed,  a not  unimportant  item  of  the  wealth 
which  is  transmitted  in  families.  Previous  to  the  dis- 
covery of  America  these  furs  were  supplied  by  the  wild 
Asiatic  tribes  on  the  north  and  the  west  of  the  empire. 
The  exportation  of  them  from  the  colonies  of  the  Yew 
World  to  China  was  begun  by  the  English,  Dutch, 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


413 


French  and  Spaniards.  The  English  North-west  and 
Hudson’s  Bay  Companies  planted  their  posts  and  sent 
forth  their  agents  and  trappers  over  the  vast  regions 
north  of  the  great  lakes  to  the  borders  of  the  Arctic 
zone,  and  westward  even  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
They  collected  the  furs  of  the  muskrat,  otter,  marten, 
ermine,  beaver,  silver  and  other  species  of  fox,  fitch, 
chinchilla,  mink  and  the  coarser  ones  of  several  other 
animals.  But  a sudden  and  great  impulse  was  given  to 
the  fur  trade  by  the  discovery  of  the  abundance  of  the 
sea-otter  and  other  fur-bearing  animals  on  the  north- 
west coast  of  the  continent,  which  was  made  by  Captain 
James  Cook  and  his  companions  during  his  third  voyage 
to  the  Pacific  ocean.  When  the  information  which  they 
obtained  was  published  in  the  winter  of  1784,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  mercantile  world  was  at  once  directed  to  this 
new  field  for  adventure.  Numerous  vessels  were  sent 
there  within  the  next  few  years.  These  discovered  new 
groups  of  islands  in  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  explored  the 
scarcely  known  western  shores  of  the  continent.  Captain 
Gray,  who  was  the  first  man  that  carried  the  American 
flag  round  the  world  in  1787  to  1790,  at  that  time  ex- 
plored Queen  Charlotte’s  Sound,  and  during  his  next 
voyage,  in  May,  1792,  discovered  the  Columbia  river 
and  named  it  after  his  own  vessel.  This  was  the  basis 
of  the  American  claim  to  the  territory  which  the  Co- 
lumbia river  drains. 

The  opening  up  of  these  sources  of  wealth  upon  the 
coast  naturally  suggested  the  importance  of  securing  a 
connection  with  them  across  the  continent,  whose  interior 
until  that  time  was  almost  as  unknown  as  the  heart  of 
Africa.  It  was  considered  to  be  as  wild  and  incapable 


414 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  cultivation  as  the  Sahara,  and  its  place  was  marked 
upon  the  maps  as  the  “ Great  American  Desert.”  The 
first  to  penetrate  and  explore  it  were  the  hardy  French 
and  English  trappers  and  hunters.  They  were  encour- 
aged by  the  support  of  rich  merchants  and  companies — 
English,  Russian,  French  and  American — who  furnished 
them  supplies  and  purchased  the  spoils  of  their  expe- 
ditions. In  January,  1803,  President  Jefferson  suggested 
an  exploration  of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers  at 
the  expense  of  the  government.  This  was  agreed  to  by 
Congress,  and  Captain  M.  Lewis,  who  had  been  Jeffer- 
son’s private  secretary,  and  Lieutenant  W.  Clarke  were 
sent  forth  upon  the  arduous  work  the  next  year.  They 
reached  the  Pacific  coast  November  17,  1805,  and  spent 
the  winter  there.  The  narrative  of  their  expedition  was 
read  with  great  interest  throughout  the  country.  Its 
great  object  was  to  show  the  possibility  of  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of 
the  American  continent. 

The  fur  trade  now  received  a new  impulse.  Compa- 
nies for  its  prosecution  were  formed  in  New  York  and 
in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  most  successful  of 
them  was  the  American,  which  afterward  became  the 
Pacific  Fur  Company,  projected  by  John  Jacob  Astor, 
of  New  York.  He  determined  to  establish  a line  of 
trading-posts  along  the  Missouri  and  down  the  Columbia 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  there  should  be  a great 
central  depot  for  the  interior  and  coast  trade,  and  a post 
for  the  vessels  which  should  connect  it  with  the  distant 
market  in  China.  “ He  considered  his  projected  estab- 
lishment at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  as  the  emporium 
to  an  immense  commerce ; as  a colony  that  would  form 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


415 


tlie  germ  of  a wide  civilization,  that  would  in  fact  carry 
the  American  population  across  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  spread  it  along  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  as  it  already 
animated  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.”  The  great  end  of 
all  was  to  supply  “ China,  that  great  mart  for  peltries,” 
to  avoid  the  long  and  hazardous  voyage  round  Cape 
Horn  and  to  bring  our  own  nation  into  more  close  con- 
nection with  the  trade  of  Asia.1 

The  acquaintance  which  was  formed  by  our  merchants 
and  trappers  with  the  Pacific  coast  in  the  prosecution  of 
this  fur  trade  with  China  led,  in  the  end,  to  its  coloni- 
zation by  our  people,  to  our  acquisition  of  Oregon  and 
California,  and  to  the  magnificent  results  which  have 
followed  in  later  years  through  the  discovery  of  the 
abundance  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  mountains  of 
that  slope  of  the  American  continent. 

The  ships  engaged  in  the  fur  trade  visited,  in  their 
course  around  the  world,  the  ports  on  the  eastern  and 
western  sides  of  South  America,  in  which  they  tarried 
and  bought  and  sold ; and  thus  were  made  to  exercise 
an  important  influence  upon  the  character  of  that  con- 
tinent. And  they  brought  into  connection  with  the 
great  world  the  lonely  islands  which  lay  in  their  track. 

The  history  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  peculiarly 
connected  with  this  commerce.  The  fur  ships  were 
accustomed  to  time  their  departure  from  the  Atlantic 
ports  so  as  to  reach  the  North-west  coast  in  the  spring. 
They  traded  during  the  summer  up  and  down  it  with 

1 Many  interesting  facts  relating  to  the  fur  trade  can  be  gathered  from 
Lewis  & Clarke,  Expedition,  etc.  (Philada.,  1814) ; Washington  Irving, 
Astoria,  chap.  iii. ; H.  M.  Brackenridge,  Views  of  Louisiana  (Pittsburg, 
1814);  Robert  Greenhow,  History  of  California  and  Oregon,  chaps,  vi.,  vii. 
(Boston,  1845). 


416 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  Indians.  In  the  fall  they  went  down  to  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  and  there  refitted  and  laid  in  fresh  pro- 
visions; dried,  cleaned  and  preserved  their  furs;  and 
purchased  sandal-wood,  sharks’  fins  and  tortoise  shells 
for  the  China  trade.  The  second  spring  they  returned 
north  for  a further  supply  of  furs,  in  the  fall  touched 
at  the  islands  again  to  put  them  in  order  and  thence 
sailed  away  for  China.  An  exchange  of  their  cargo  for 
tea,  silk  and  porcelain  was  soon  effected  there,  and  they 
joyfully  hastened  upon  the  wings  of  the  monsoon  toward 
their  Atlantic  homes. 

The  name  given  by  the  Chinese  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands  was  Tan-hiang  Shan,  the  “ Sandal-wood  Islands.” 
This  name  they  bear  commonly  in  the  Chinese  language 
till  this  day,  though  the  sandal-wood  has  long  ago  been 
cut  off,  so  that  now  only  a bush  of  it  can  be  found  here 
and  there  on  the  mountains.  It  is  wonderful  to  trace 
out  the  chain  of  influences  as  they  affected  the  people  of 
these  and  other  islands.  The  trade  in  sandal-wood  en- 
riched a few  of  the  prominent  chiefs.  Kamehameha,  an 
ambitious  chief  of  the  island  of  Hawaii,  was  furnished 
by  it  with  a part  of  the  means  necessary  to  prosecute  his 
determination  to  make  himself  master,  first  of  the  large 
island  on  which  he  lived,  then  of  the  whole  group.  He 
compelled  his  people  to  search  for  the  precious  fragrant 
wood,  hew  and  clean  it  and  carry  it  down  the  mountain 
sides  upon  their  backs.  He  traded  it  for  vessels,  guns, 
ammunition  and  stores.  He  succeeded  in  conquering 
the  whole  of  the  islands.  This  removed  some  of  the 
greatest  obstacles  to  the  future  efforts  of  the  missionaries 
of  the  gospel.  Through  the  tractable  native  Hawaiians, 
who  were  employed  as  seamen  on  the  ships  engaged  in 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


417 


this  same  trade,  the  attention  of  American  Christians 
was  turned  to  those  interesting  people.  The  presence 
of  two  of  them,  Obookiah  and  Hopu,  at  New  Haven, 
helped  to  kindle  the  missionary  impulses  which  created 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, in  June,  1810,  and  led  one  of  its  first  missionary 
companies,  in  1819,  to  undertake  the  conversion  of  the 
Hawaiian  nation  to  Christ.  Thus  the  commerce  whose 
end  was  to  clothe  with  costly  furs  the  wealthy  inhabit- 
ants of  the  empire  of  China  was  appointed  by  the  Prov- 
idence which  wisely  and  mercifully  manages  the  world 
to  be  a means  to  surround  it  with  a rich  belt  of  celestial 
blessings  to  our  race. 

It  would  be  exceedingly  entertaining  to  trace  the 
effects  of  the  commerce  between  China  and  America 
upon  the  development  of  the  civilization  of  the  New 
World  in  other  respects  besides  those  mentioned.  Our 
space  in  this  volume  permits  us,  however,  to  speak  now 
of  but  one  of  them — that  is,  the  advancement  of  the  art 
of  ship-building. 

The  fresh  teas  were  brought  down  from  the  interior 
to  Canton  in  the  autumn.  The  first  “ chops,”  or  lots,  in 
the  market  were  sold  at  several  cents  a pound  higher 
than  those  which  came  in  from  two  to  four  weeks  later. 
There  was  much  competition  among  the  foreign  mer- 
chants for  the  early  teas,  and  anxiety  to  be  the  first  to 
get  them  into  the  markets  of  this  country  or  Europe. 
And  this  will  be  understood  when  it  is  remembered  that 
a difference  of  only  two  cents  in  the  pound,  in  a cargo 
of  one  thousand  tons  of  tea,  makes  forty  thousand  dollars 
more  or  less  in  the  profits  of  it.  The  decline  in  the 
prices  of  the  teas  after  the  sale  of  the  first  chops  sug- 

27 


418 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


gested  the  construction  of  swift  ships,  which  would 
enable  the  owners  to  take  advantage  of  the  fall,  and  yet 
land  their  cargoes  first  in  the  Atlantic  ports.  Hence, 
immediately  after  the  Opium  War,  there  began  to  appear 
in  the  Chinese  waters  long,  trim  vessels,  whose  narrow- 
ness of  beam,  sharp  lines,  tall  masts,  heavy  spars  and 
weight  of  canvas  appalled  the  old  salts  of  the  trade,  who 
shook  their  heads  and  pronounced  them  nothing  but 
coffins,  that  could  not  stand  up  in  a hard  storm.  How- 
ever, these  “clippers”  were  but  the  forerunners  in  a 
great  reformation  of  the  art  of  ship-building ; and  now 
the  days  of  the  “ Cleopatra”  and  the  “ Bull-dog”  and 
the  “ Duke  of  Marlborough”  have  passed  away,  and  the 
generation  of  the  “Wings  of  the  Morning”  and  the 
“ Carrier  Dove”  and  the  “ Morning  Star”  has  taken 
their  place.  Other  nations  have  caught  the  spirit  of 
advancement  in  the  construction  of  sailing  vessels,  es- 
pecially for  the  China  trade.  And  with  each  returning 
spring  we  read  of  the  splendid  races  of  the  clippers  from 
China,  a grand  and  exhilarating  contest  over  an  ocean 
track  from  one  to  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  compared 
with  which  the  strifes  between  the  youths  of  rival  uni- 
versities in  England  and  America  look  like  child’s  play. 

And  the  same  great  causes  will  in  time  dispense  with 
canvas.  The  age  of  steam  on  the  ocean  is  already  begun. 
The  commerce  with  China  and  India  has  cut  out  for 
itself  a new  channel  through  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  It 
will  soon  cut  another  through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 
But  either  isthmus  is  adjacent  to  tropic  seas,  in  which  a 
vessel  with  sails  alone  may  lie  for  days,  and  even  for 
weeks  together,  upon  a surface  as  smooth  as  polished 
glass,  but  made  dangerous  in  places  by  currents  and 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


419 


submarine  rocks.  Steam  is  essential  to  tbe  accelerated 
communication  of  tbe  future.  Within  a generation  or 
two  from  the  present  one  the  great  oceans  of  the  world 
will  be  covered  with  fleet  lines  of  vessels  propelled  by 
steam  or  some  more  compact,  economical  and  effective 
power,  and  engaged  in  the  universal  distribution  of  the 
gifts  with  which  Providence  has  favored  the  different 
climes  and  races  of  man.  And  it  is  interesting  to  con- 
sider, in  connection  with  the  subject  before  us,  that  it  is 
the  necessities  of  the  intercourse  with  China  which  will 
most  imperatively  demand  this  great  advancement  and 
inaugurate  this  great  commercial  era. 

The  history  of  American  diplomacy  in  China  presents 
nothing  of  special  interest  previous  to  the  Opium  War. 
As  soon  as  possible  after  its  close,  the  Hon.  Caleb  Cush- 
ing was  dispatched  as  the  first  minister  plenipotentiary 
from  the  United  States  to  that  empire.  A treaty  was 
made  with  Ki-ying,  a member  of  the  royal  family,  and 
three  subordinates  acting  in  connection  with  him,  which 
was  signed  at  Wang-hia,  July  3, 1844.  There  were  some 
remarkable  advances  manifest  in  this  treaty  upon  those 
previously  made  by  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  the  British 
plenipotentiary.  In  a dispatch  on  the  subject  from  Mr. 
Cushing  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  he  enumerates  sixteen 
“ provisions  which  are  not  embraced  either  in  the  Eng- 
lish treaty  of  Hanking  or  in  the  treaty  supplementary 
thereto.”  Some  of  them  are  important  and  remarkable, 
as  exhibiting  the  different  spirit  which  animates  the 
treaty  of  Wang-hia.  The  protection  of  Christian  con- 
verts or  the  right  of  Christian  missionaries  to  follow  the 
openings  of  commerce  had  not  been  brought  forward  in 
the  British  treaty.  But  in  that  of  Wang-hia,  as  Mr. 


420 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Cushing  mentions,  “ Citizens  of  the  United  States  are 
permitted  to  have  all  accommodations  at  each  of  the  five 
ports,  not  only  as  heretofore  in  the  construction  of  mer- 
cantile and  dwelling-houses,  but  also  for  churches,  ceme- 
teries and  hospitals.  Chinese  scholars,  who  might  act  as 
teachers  or  assistants  of  missionaries,  had  formerly  been 
liable  to  severe  punishments.  To  guard  against  this  in 
the  future  an  article  was  inserted  in  the  treaty  making 
provision  for  the  employment  by  Americans  of  persons 
to  teach  the  languages  of  the  empire,  and  the  purchase 
of  books  was  legalized.”  It  was  argued  by  the  American 
minister,  and  assented  to  by  the  Chinese  commissioners, 
that  to  persecute  and  oppress  such  of  its  subjects  as 
either  gave  instruction  or  sold  books  to  foreigners  in 
China  was  a great  obstacle  to  the  study  of  the  languages 
of  China,  and  thus  to  the  acquisition  of  the  means  of 
satisfactory  intercourse  with  its  government.  The  pain- 
ful and  delicate  subject  of  the  opium  trade  was  discussed. 
This  had  not  been  directly  mentioned  in  the  English 
treaties ; but  it  was  provided  by  the  treaty  of  Wang-hia 
that  citizens  of  the  United  States  engaged  in  this,  or 
any  other  contraband  trade,  should  receive  no  protec- 
tion from  the  American  government,  nor  should  the 
flag  of  the  United  States  be  abusively  employed  by 
other  nations  as  a cover  for  the  violation  of  the  laws 
of  China. 

The  general  character  awarded  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  by  the  Chinese  has  been  that  they  are 
more  peaceable  and  more  friendly  to  them  than  any 
other  foreigners.  It  suits  the  subjects  of  European  gov- 
ernments to  ridicule  this  assertion  when  it  is  made  by 
Americans ; but  I know  by  experience  that  it  is  true, 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


421 


and  so  well  have  other  nations  been  aware  of  it  that 
individuals  of  them  have  been  known,  when  threatened 
by  a furious  Chinese  mob,  to  declare  that  they  were 
“ men  of  the  country  of  the  flowery  flag.”  The  activity 
of  the  American  missionaries  in  preparing  and  circulat- 
ing gospels  and  tracts  in  the  native  tongue,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  the  hospital  of  Dr.  Parker,  which  was  resorted 
to  by  thousands  of  patients  annually  from  the  whole 
province  and  from  great  distances  in  the  interior,  had 
more  to  do  with  producing  this  kindly  feeling  than  even 
the  republican  and  pacific  character  of  our  nation. 

A beautiful  and  touching  illustration  of  this  feeling 
occurred  at  Amoy.  The  amiable  and  devoted  Rev.  Dr. 
David  Abeel  was  one  of  our  missionaries  at  that  port. 
Among  the  Chinese  gentlemen  with  whom  he  was  ac- 
quainted there  was  Seu  Ki-yu,  an  intelligent  and  able 
officer,  who  was  subsequently  made  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Fu-kien.  The  results  of  the  war  greatly  excited 
the  interest  of  this  gentleman  in  regard  to  the  geography 
and  history  of  the  nations  of  the  West.  He  procured 
translations  from  works  in  our  language,  more  especially 
extracts  from  Murray’s  Cyclopedia  of  Geography,  and 
spent  many  hours  with  Dr.  Abeel  and  others  gathering 
information  from  them.  This  was  thrown  together  and 
published  by  him  in  1848,  in  a work  containing  ten  parts 
or  volumes,  under  the  name  of  “A  General  Survey  of 
Maritime  Countries.”  He  gave  in  this  work  a fair  ac- 
count of  the  colonization  of  America  and  of  the  War  of 
Independence.  But  it  was  the  character  of  our  Wash- 
ington which  specially  and  deeply  impressed  him.  He 
dwelt  upon  the  life  and  actions  of  Washington  in  one 
of  his  chapters  as  something  which  equaled  the  ancient 


422 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chinese  ideals.  The  following  extracts  will  convey  an 
idea  of  this  portion  of  the  work : 

“Washington  was  born  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  em- 
peror Yung  Ching.  His  father  died  when  he  was  but 
ten  years  of  age.  He  was  trained  up  by  his  mother. 
While  yet  young  he  manifested  much  intelligence,  both 
in  regard  to  civil  and  military  affairs,  and  excelled  in 
personal  strength  and  courage.  Washington  first  held 
a commission  in  the  war  of  the  English  against  the 
French,  in  which  he  led  out  his  troops  against  the  ma- 
rauding aborigines  of  the  southern  parts  of  the  country, 
and  conquered  them.  But  the  English  general  did  not 
fairly  represent  to  the  government  his  worthy  deeds. 
His  countrymen,  however,  desired  his  acceptance  of  an 
inrportant  office ; but  this  sickness  compelled  him  to 
decline. 

“At  the  period  when  the  people  rose  up  in  rebellion 
against  England,  they  urgently  besought  Washington  to 
become  their  commander-in-chief.  He  at  once  accepted 
the  position.  Without  arms,  ammunition  or  provisions, 
Washington  roused  his  countrymen  to  action  by  his  own 
patriotic  spirit.  He  planted  his  army  first  near  to  the 
capital  of  one  of  the  provinces,  before  which  the  Eng- 
lish commander-in-chief  had  collected  his  ships  of  war. 
Suddenly  a storm  rose  and  dispersed  the  ships,  which 
gave  Washington  an  opportunity  to  attack  and  obtain 
possession  of  the  city. 

“ The  English  general  subsequently  collected  his 
forces  and  drove  Washington  from  his  position.  His 
soldiers  now  became  greatly  disheartened,  and  wished  to 
lay  down  their  arms,  but  he,  with  the  same  heroic  spirit 
which  he  had  exhibited  from  the  first,  having  reorgan- 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


423 


ized  his  army,  again  attacked  the  English,  and  this  time 
with  success.  From  that  time,  during  eight  years  of 
bloody  conflict,  while  his  army  was  often  reduced  and 
weakened,  the  spirit  of  Washington  was  undiminished. 
The  English  army  in  the  mean  time  became  exhausted. 
The  French  raised  a large  force,  crossed  the  sea  and 
joined  Washington  in  resistance  to  the  English.  The 
Spanish  and  Dutch  governments  favored  peace.  The 
English,  unable  to  continue  the  contest,  concluded  a 
treaty  with  Washington,  according  to  which  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  continent,  a cold  region,  was  retained  by 
them,  while  they  yielded  the  southern  part  of  it,  a fertile 
country. 

“ When  Washington  had  established  the  government 
upon  a firm  foundation,  he  disbanded  the  army  and  de- 
sired to  return  to  the  pursuits  of  husbandry,  but  the 
people  would  not  consent  to  it,  and  pressed  upon  him 
the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate.  In  an  address  to  Con- 
gress, Washington  said,  ‘ To  obtain  a kingdom  for  one’s 
self,  to  transmit  it  to  posterity,  were  a criminal  ambition. 
Integrity  should  distinguish  those  who  are  to  be  elevated 
to  this  position  in  the  nation.’  Surely  Washington  was 
an  extraordinary  man.  His  successes  as  a soldier  were 
more  rapid  than  those  of  Shing  and  Kwang,  and  in  per- 
sonal courage  he  was  superior  to  Tsau-pi  and  Liu-pang. 
With  the  two-edged  sword  [of  justice]  he  established 
the  tranquillity  of  the  country  over  an  area  of  several 
thousand  miles.  He  refused  to  receive  pecuniary  recom- 
pense. He  labored  to  rear  an  elective  system  of  govern- 
ment. Patriotism  like  this  is  to  be  commended  under 
the  whole  heavens.  Truly  it  reminds  us  of  our  own 
three  great  ancient  dynasties ! In  administering  the 


424  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EXPIRE. 

government  he  fostered  virtue,  he  avoided  war  and  he 
succeeded  in  making  his  country  superior  to  all  other 
nations.  I have  seen  his  portrait.  His  countenance 
exhibits  great  mental  power.  Who  must  not  concede  to 
him  the  character  of  an  extraordinary  man  ?” 

The  subsequent  career  of  the  author  of  this  remark- 
able tribute  to  the  character  of  the  Father  of  his  Country 
is  full  of  interest  to  us,  and  may  be  mentioned  here. 
Such  encomiums  paid  to  a person  of  the  West,  whose 
nations  seemed  to  be  the  fountain  of  all  evil  to  China, 
offended  the  imperial  government.  In  1850,  the  noble 
and  candid  Seu  Ki-yu  was  degraded  and  sent  into  pri- 
vate life,  in  his  native  province  of  Shan-si.  There  he 
remained  until  after  the  accession  of  the  present  youthful . 
emperor  to  the  throne,  under  the  regency  of  Prince 
Kung.  Since  that  his  intelligent  acquaintance  with 
foreign  countries  has  led  to  his  being  summoned  to 
the  council  for  foreign  affairs.  In  March,  1867,  when 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  was  placed  by  an  imperial  de- 
cree at  the  head  of  the  new  “ Institution  for  Giving 
Instruction  in  the  Arts  and  Sciences  of  the  West,”  which 
has  been  established  at  Peking,  and  has  excited  so  much 
interest  in  America  and  Europe.  On  learning  of  this 
appointment,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  through 
the  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward,  as  Secretary  of  State,  sent  to 
Peking  a portrait  of  Washington,  which  Mr.  Burlin- 
game presented  to  the  venerable  Seu  Ki-yu,  with  a 
written  expression  of  the  gratification  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States  on  account  of  the  honor  done  him.1 


1 On  this  occasion,  after  the  act  of  presentation,  an  interesting  conversation 
took  place  between  Mr.  Burlingame  and  the  Chinese  ministers  present,  of 
which  the  following  is  a portion: 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


425 


The  government  of  the  United  States  viewed  with 
anxiety  the  new  breaking  out  of  hostilities  between 

1 Mr.  Burlingame : “ The  presentation  of  this  picture  indicates  a commerce  of 
thought.  We  have  borrowed  many  useful  ideas  from  you.  Some  of  our  arts 
were  originally  derived  from  China,  and  perhaps  we  may  have  some  things 
to  offer  in  exchange — industrial  arts,  physical  sciences,  and  religious  truth.” 
Wen-Siang:  “Our  maxim  is,  in  everything  to  inquire  for  the  best  method 
and  to  adopt  it  for  our  own,  no  matter  where  it  may  originate.” 

Mr.  Burlingame : “The  institutions  of  our  country  present  many  points  of 
resemblance  to  your  own.  For  instance,  the ‘elective  principle  which  pervades 
us  is  quite  analogous  to  your  practice  of  admitting  all  honest  citizens  to  the 
privilege  of  a fair  competition  for. the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office.” 
Wen-Siang : “With  you  that  excellent  system  descends  from  Washington, 
who  refused  to  transmit  to  hi3  successor  a legacy  of  hereditary  power,  but  pre- 
ferred to  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  the  people.” 

Mr.  Burlingame:  “Like  your  ancient  sovereigns,  Washington  honored  agri- 
culture by  himself  holding  the  plough,  and,  like  them,  he  inculcated  the  doctrine 
that  rulers  should  employ  moral  influence  in  preference  to  physical  force.” 
Tan:  “Nothing  is  more  desirable  than  that  nations  should  conform  in  their 
practice  to  a principle  which  is  at  once  so  just  and  so  humane.” 

.Tung : “ That  is  the  surest  way  to  conciliate  the  love  and  respect  of  other 
nations,  for  our  sacred  books  lay  down  the  principle  that  ‘ those  who  respect 
others  will  be  respected,  and  those  who  love  others  will  be  loved.’  ” 

The  written  reply  which  Mr.  Burlingame  received  to  his  letter  to  the 
Chinese  statesman  was  as  follows : 


“Sir:  I yesterday  perused  your  highly-prized  address,  in  which  you  have 
bestowed  upon  me  such  high  commendation,  in  presenting  me  the  painting 
of  the  portrait  of  Washington,  the  founder  of  your  honorable  country.  As  I 
and  my  associates  again  and  again  looked  at  this  beautiful  and  elegant  gift 
our  pleasure  and  admiration  increased,  and  we  could  all  only  the  more  value 
and  appreciate  this  worthy  remembrance  of  you. 

“Among  all  the  great  men  of  your  land,  I think  that  Washington  stands 
first,  for  his  surprising  capacity.  He  founded  and  planned  its  enduring  insti- 
tutions as  a pattern  for  all  ages,  and  his  merit  makes  him  a perfect  link  to 
connect  the  great  men  of  antiquity  with  those  who  will  come  in  all  time,  so 
that  his  name  will  surely  be  honored  by  mankind  through  all  ages. 

“ I beg  to  renew  my  thanks,  in  sending  you  this  answer,  and  avail  myself 
of  the  opportunity  to  offer  my  wishes  for  your  highest  happiness.” 

“Seu  Ki-yu.” 


“ His  Excellency  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame, 

“ United  Stales  Minister.” 


426 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Great  Britain,  supported  by  France  as  an  ally,  and 
China  in  the  year  1856.  President  Buchanan  sent 
thither  the  Hon.  William  B.  Reed  to  watch  the  course 
of  events,  and  to  act  the  part  of  a mediator  and  peace- 
maker when  the  opportunity  should  offer.  In  this  he 
was  sustained  by  the  influence  of  Russia.  Mr.  Reed 
arrived  in  Hong-kong,  on  the  fine  war  steamer  Min- 
nesota, November  7,  1857.  He  at  once  set  himself  to 
remove  the  difficulties  between  the  English  and  Chinese, 
and  save  if  possible  the  further  effusion  of  blood.  He 
endeavored  in  vain  to  persuade  the  proud  and  obstinate 
governor  Yeh  to  yield,  and  save  Canton  from  bombard- 
ment. He  proceeded  to  the  north,  and  made  on  behalf 
of  his  government  a treaty  of  peace  with  China  which 
was  signed  June  18.  The  first  article  of  the  treaty  con- 
tains a significant  reference  to  the  posture  of  the  United 
States  in  relation  to  the  war  then  in  progress,  as  well  as 
to  any  which  might  thereafter  arise.  The  article  says : 

“ There  shall  be,  as  there  have  always  been,  peace  and 
friendship  between  the  United  States  of  America  and 
the  Ta-Tsing  Empire,  and  between  their  people  respect- 
ively. They  shall  not  insult  or  oppress  each  other  for 
any  trifling  cause,  so  as  to  produce  an  estrangement  be- 
tween them  ; and  if  any  other  nation  should  act  unjustly 
or  oppressively,  the  United  States  will  exert  their  good 
offices,  on  being  informed  of  the  case,  to  bring  about  an 
amicable  arrangement  of  the  question,  thus  showing  their 
friendly  feelings.” 

A subsequent  article  of  this  treaty  is  to  be  interpreted 
by  keeping  in  view  the  bitter  root  of  the  difficulties  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  China  which  led  to  the  previous 
war  of  1839  to  ’42,  and  to  this  war.  After  stating  the 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA.  427 

ports  where  Americans  shall  be  permitted  to  reside  and 
their  vessels  to  trade,  it  continues  in  the  following  lan- 
guage : 

“But  said  vessels  shall  not  carry  on  a clandestine 
and  fraudulent  trade  at  other  ports  of  China  not  de- 
clared to  be  legal,  or  along  the  coasts  thereof ; and  any 
vessel  under  the  American  flag  violating  this  provision 
shall,  with  her  cargo,  be  subject  to  confiscation  to  the 
Chinese  government;  and  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States  who  shall  trade  in  any  contraband  article  of  mer- 
chandise shall  be  subject  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  Chinese 
government,  without  being  entitled  to  any  countenance 
or  protection  from  that  of  the  United  States ; and  the 
United  States  will  take  measures  to  prevent  their  flag 
from  being  abused  by  the  subjects  of  other  nations  as  a 
cover  for  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  empire.” 

It  was  a very  interesting  fact,  which  was  remarked  at 
the  time  with  great  pleasure  in  our  country,  that  the 
first  announcement  of  news  from  the  Old  World  made 
by  the  Atlantic  telegraph  cable,  August  25,  1858,  after 
the  ascription  of  thanks  and  utterance  of  hope  in  the 
words,  “ Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace, 
good-will  toward  men,”  was  that  peace  had  been  made 
between  China  and  the  European  allies ! 

The  development  of  the  foreign  trade  with  China 
during  the  brief  time  which  has  passed  since  the  last  war 
has  been  very  great.  The  exports  and  imports  at  its 
close  amounted  to  some  eighty  millions  of  dollars  a 
year — now  it  is  two  hundred  and  thirteen  millions.  The 
American  government  has  been  represented  most  of  the 
time  by  the  Hon.  Anson  Burlingame,  who  has  taken  the 
lead,  with  remarkable  ability  and  success,  in  establishing 


423 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


» 


the  policy  of  peaceful  co-operation  between  the  chief 
treaty-powers,  in  encouraging  the  Chinese  to  adopt  a 
more  wise  and  progressive  policy  in  their  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations  and  in  the  introduction-  of  the  im- 
provements of  the  age.  He  has  been  cordially  supported 
in  this  by  Sir  Frederick  Bruce,  the  late  British  minister, 
by  M.  Berthemy,  the  late  French  minister,  and  by  the 
representatives  of  the  other  powers.  Several  very  im- 
portant reforms  have  been  inaugurated,  and  the  germs 
of  beneficial  Western  systems  or  institutions  planted ; 
upon  which  subject  we  cannot,  however,  dwell  now. 

It  has  been  a point  of  the  first  magnitude  to  arrest  at 
once  the  alienation  of  Chinese  territory  to  any  foreign 
power.  The  history  of  British  India  has  illustrated  the 
results  of  even  small  and  feeble  beginnings  in  that  way. 
The  sites  for  factories  and  forts  at  Surat,  Armegum  and 
Hoogley,  two  centuries  ago,  were  the  little  acorns  whence 
grew  the  oaks  which  came  to  overshadow  the  nations  of 
the  Indian  peninsula.  The  sites  of  the  factories  at  Can- 
ton, Shanghai  and  other  ports  were  claimed  already  by 
some  of  the  consuls  to  be  wholly  under  foreign  jurisdic- 
tion. That  at  Shanghai,  as  the  centre  of  the  extensive 
trade  at  that  point,  covered  several  square  miles,  was 
occupied  with  costly  and  capacious  foreign  buildings, 
and  was  becoming  the  abode  of  a large  and  wealthy 
Chinese  population.  The  representatives  of  the  several 
commercial  powers  came  to  see  the  dangers  to  their  com- 
mon interests  and  those  to  the  future  unity  and  per- 
manence of  the  Chinese  empire,  which  were  involved  in 
the  permission  of  the  claims  to  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
one  of  them  over  these  seats  of  trade ; and  they  agreed 
together,  notwithstanding  the  indignation  and  protests 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


429 


% 


of  some  of  their  subjects,  to  sustain  the  original  authority 
of  the  Chinese  government,  -while  they  maintained  what- 
ever local  administration  of  justice  might  be  required 
by  the  necessities  of  their  own  people. 

Some  of  the  foreigners  claimed  privileges  which  had 
not  been  conceded  by  treaty.  There  was  a continual 
disposition  to  transgress  Chinese  forms  and  laws.  And 
some  well-meaning  and  some  interested  parties  pressed 
the  construction  of  railroads,  telegraphs  and  other  acces- 
sories of  trade  and  travel  in  a manner  calculated  to 
thwart  the  increasing  sense  of  their  usefulness  among 
the  Chinese  and  delay  their  final  establishment. 

While  these  and  other  serious  matters  were  pressing 
upon  the  minds  of  the  able  officers  of  the  Council  of 
Foreign  Affairs  at  Peking,  Mr.  Burlingame,  who  had 
been  in  China  six  years,  determined  to  resign  his  post 
and  return  to  America.  The  news  of  it  excited  much 
regret  among  both  Chinese  and  foreign  diplomatists. 
The  former  endeavored  in  vain  to  dissuade  him  from 
his  purpose.  Failing  to  accomplish  this,  he  was  invited 
by  Prince  Kung  to  a farewell  entertainment,  at  which 
were  present  many  of  the  leading  officers  of  the  govern- 
ment. During  it  they  expressed  to  him  their  gratitude 
for  his  offices  to  them  as  an  intelligent  and  disinterested 
counselor  and  friend.  And  they  seem  to  have  con- 
ceived at  this  time  the  thought  of  putting  the  relations 
of  the  empire  with  foreign  countries  upon  a more  just 
and  equal  basis,  by  sending  to  them  an  imperial  embassy 
of  which  he  should  be  the  head.  They  promptly  con- 
sulted some  of  their  more  reliable  friends  among  the 
foreign  gentlemen  at  the  capital,  and  in  two  days  after 
they  tendered  to  Mr.  Burlingame,  much  to  his  surprise, 


430 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  appointment  of  minister  plenipotentiary  of  China  to 
the  Western  powers. 

The  designation  of  Mr.  Burlingame  to  the  most  re- 
sponsible and  honorable  office  of  being  the  first  pleni- 
potentiary of  the  empire  of  China  in  modern  ages  to  any 
nation  of  the  West  may  be  considered  to  be  a national 
compliment  to  the  United  States,  for  the  following  rea- 
sons. It  was,  no  doubt,  their  experience  of  the  sincere 
and  generous  friendship  of  the  representative  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  which  induced  the 
proposal  of  the  Chinese  to  him  to  undertake  this  mis- 
sion. The  burning  and  terrible  memories  of  the  past, 
and  the  peculiar  temptations  to  the  abuse  of  the  trust  to 
their  own  advantage,  would  probably  have  prevented 
the  appointment  of  a subject  of  any  first-class  European 
government,  and  that  of  one  of  a secondary  nation  would 
not  have  carried  with  it  sufficient  weight.  The  jealousies 
of  the  leading  European  powers,  it  would  be  foreseen, 
would  probably  defeat  the  general  ends  of  the  embassy 
under  the  leadership  of  any  one  of  them.  And  it  was 
doubtless  the  same  causes,  and  the  liberality  and  friend- 
ship it  had  always  shown,  which  led  to  the  selection  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States  as  the  first  one  to 
which  the  embassy  should  be  sent,  in  order  to  secure  its 
general  designs.  And  subsequent  facts  have  proved  that 
had  the  embassy  been  otherwise  constituted,  or  had  it 
gone  first  to  either  of  the  European  courts,  it  would 
have  wholly  or  comparatively  failed  in  the  attainment 
of  its  splendid  successes. 

Mr.  Burlingame  left  the  Chinese  capital  on  the  25th 
of  November,  1867.  The  embassy  consisted,  besides  the 
principal,  of  Chili-kang  and  Sun  Chia-ku,  a Manehu 


I 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


431 


and  a Chinese  officer,  each  wearing  the  red  ball  on  his 
cap  which  indicates  an  official  of  a rank  next  to  the 
highest  in  the  empire ; J.  McLeary  Brown,  formerly  of 
the  British  legation,  and  M.  Deschamps,  as  secretaries ; 
Teh  Ming  and  Fung  I as  Chinese  attaches,  and  several 
other  persons  in  subordinate  positions.  The  embassy 
was  detained  five  days  on  the  way  to  Tien-tsin,  which 
was  distant  but  two  days’  journey,  and  put  in  some  peril, 
by  bands  of  mounted  robbers.  It  went  to  Shanghai, 
thence  to  San  Francisco,  where  it  was  most  cordially 
welcomed  by  both  the  American  and  Chinese  mercantile 
communities.  It  reached  'Washington  in  May,  1868. 
The  embassy  was  treated  with  much  distinction  at  the 
American  capital.  No  American  statesman  was  so  capa- 
ble and  disposed  to  enter  cordially  into  its  objects  as  the 
Secretary  of  State  at  that  time,  the  Hon.  William  H. 
Seward,  whose  mind  had  long  apprehended  the  great 
features  of  the  policy  which  American  and  foreign  na- 
tions should  pursue  in  relation  to  the  Chinese  empire. 
On  the  16th  of  July  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  rat- 
ified a treaty  which  he  had  made  in  behalf  of  this  country 
with  the  representative  of  the  Chinese  government. 

The  treaty  defines  and  fixes  the  principles  of  the 
intercourse  of  Western  nations  with  China,  of  the  im- 
portance of  which  I have  already  spoken.  It  secures 
the  territorial  integrity  of  the  empire,  and  concedes  to 
China  the  rights  which  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
world  accord  to  each  other  as  to  eminent  domain  over 
land  and  waters,  and  jurisdiction  over  persons  and 
property  therein.  It  takes  the  first  step  toward  the 
appointment  of  Chinese  consuls  in  our  seaports — a meas- 
ure promotive  of  both  Chinese  and  American  interests. 


432 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


It  secures  exemption  from  all  disability  or  persecution 
on  account  of  religious  faith  in  either  country.  It 
recognizes  the  right  of  voluntary  emigration  and  makes 
penal  the  wrongs  of  the  coolie  traffic.  It  pledges  privi- 
leges as  to  travel  or  residence  in  either  country  such  as 
are  enjoyed  by  the  most  favored  nation.  It  grants  to 
the  Chinese  permission  to  attend  our  schools  and  col- 
leges, and  allows  us  to  freely  establish  and  maintain 
schools  in  China.  And  while  it  acknowledges  the  right 
of  the  Chinese  government  to  control  its  own  whole 
interior  arrangements,  as  to  railroads,  telegraphs  and 
other  internal  improvements,  it  suggests  the  willingness 
of  our  government  to  afford  aid  toward  their  construc- 
tion by  designating  and  authorizing  suitable  engineers 
to  perform  the  work,  at  the  expense  of  the  Chinese  gov- 
ernment. 

The  treaty  expressly  leaves  the  question  of  naturali- 
zation in  either  country  an  open  one.  And  we  would 
fain  hope  that  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  construe  the 
clause  granting  exemption  from  all  disability  or  perse- 
cution on  account  of  their  religious  faith,  which  should 
properly  protect  the  Chinese  against  injustice  or  violence 
as  to  their  religious  worship  or  professions,  so  as  to  imply 
that  Buddhism  possesses  equal  civil  privileges  and  im- 
munities with  Christianity,  or  may  violate  our  Sabbaths 
with  the  clamor  of  its  public  demonstrations,  or  interfere 
with  our  common-school  education  or  our  judicial  oaths. 
This  the  Christian  sentiment  of  the  nation  would  justly 
abhor,  and  the  omnipotent  God  surely  chastise. 

While  slavery  existed  in  the  United  States  the  Senate 
would  not  have  ratified  a national  covenant  which  ac- 
cords so  freely  the  rights  of  equal  humanity  and  equal 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


433 


civilization  to  a tawny  race  not  of  European  blood. 
That  covenant  will  be  kept  with  good  faith  on  our  part. 
It  is  in  harmony  with  the  article  of  the  Constitution 
recently  adopted,1  which  says  that  no  State  shall  “ de- 
prive any  person  of  life,  liberty  or  property  without  due 
process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  juris- 
diction the  equal  protection  of  its  law's.”  This  article 
we  accept  as  the  text  in  the  Constitution  of  which  this 
treaty  is  one  example.  It  must  sweep  away  the  legal 
disabilities  to  which  the  Chinese  have  been  subjected  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  permit  them  to  obtain  the  sheer  rights 
of  humanity,  and  punish  the  villains  who  now  plunder, 
abuse  or  murder  them  under  the  assurance  that  the  tes- 
timony of  witnesses  of  that  race  will  be  rejected  in  our 
courts. 

The  members  of  the  embassy  visited  a few  of  the 
leading  points  of  interest  in  the  country,  though  they 
refused  as  a rule  to  accept  municipal  honors  tendered  to 
them.  They  were  particularly  interested  in  a visit  to 
the  grand  cataract  of  Niagara  and  to  the  State  prison  at 
Auburn,  New  York,  the  order,  discipline,  cleanliness 
and  healthfulness  of  which  impressed  upon  these  minis- 
ters a lesson  that  should  be  imitated  in  the  terrible 
places  of  punishment  in  China,  which  are  in  the  con- 
dition of  those  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages. 
They  enjoyed  visits  to  the  cities  of  Boston  and  New 
York.  Reviews  of  bodies  of  soldiers,  of  fire-brigades 
and  other  honors  were  offered  to  them,  which  would 
exert  an  important  influence  upon  their  estimate  of  the 
value  of  Western  civilization. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  in  detail  the  progress  of 

1 The  Fourteenth  Amendment,  section  1. 


23 


434 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


this  first  imperial  Chinese  embassy.  In  England  it  was 
received  at  first  very  coldly,  and  it  was  some  months 
before  proper  attention  could'  be  secured  from  the  gov- 
ernment to  its  objects.  At  length,  however,  on  Novem- 
ber 20,  it  was  presented  to  the  queen  at  Windsor  Castle. 
The  audience-room  was  filled  with  the  royal  family  and 
distinguished  members  of  the  nobility.  Mr.  Burlingame 
was  presented  to  her  Majesty  by  Lord  Stanley.  He 
addressed  her  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  of  China, 
expressing  desires  for  her  continued  health  and  happi- 
ness and  the  prosperity  of  her  reign,  making  a happy 
allusion  to  her  friendship  to  the  nation  of  which  he  was 
a citizen,  that  whence  the  embassy  had  last  come.  He 
then  presented  his  credentials  from  the  emperor  of 
China  as  his  ambassador,  a document  richly  painted 
upon  a sheet  of  yellow  satin.  The  Chinese  members  of 
the  embassy  were  then  introduced  to  the  queen.  At  a 
luncheon  served  to  the  company  in  the  castle,  Lord 
Stanley  took  occasion  to  say  that  his  own  sentiments 
perfectly  accorded  with  those  of  Mr.  Burlingame  rela- 
tive to  China.  He  said:  “It  is  true  that  a certain 
degree  of  opposition,  originating  in  ignorance  of  the  real 
object  of  the  Chinese  mission,  coupled  with  a desire  to 
adhere  to  the  old  traditional  British  coercive  policy,  met 
Mr.  Burlingame  on  his  arrival  in  England,  but  this 
has  all  passed  away.  Mr.  Burlingame,  by  his  dignified 
course  and  feeling  the  grandeur  and  importance  of  the 
high  trust  confided  to  his  care,  has  conducted  himself  in 
such  a manner  as  to  completely  disarm  opposition  and 
create  a favorable  impression  not  only  for  China,  but  for 
the  United  States;  for,  while  acting  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  emperor  of  China,  his  dignified  bearing  and 


AMERICAN  RELATIONS  WITH  CHINA. 


435 


progressive  ideas  have  exhibited  him  as  a true  type  of 
the  representative  American.”  Lord  Stanley  then  con- 
cluded by  expressing  the  belief  that  the  cordial  prin- 
ciples which  are  fast  influencing  the  nations  of  the  world 
have  changed  foes  to  friends. 

What  heart  is  there  that  will  not  join  in  the  cordial 
wish  that  the  treaties  made  by  the  embassy  with  Great 
Britain,  France,  Prussia  and  other  European  powers 
may  be  the  commencement  of  a new  era  in  the  diplo- 
matic and  national  intercourse  of  China  with  those  and 
all  other  lands  of  the  West! 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  government  of 
China  really  means  to  fulfill  the  pledges  made  in  its  be- 
half by  Mr.  Burlingame  and  realize  the  hopes  he  has 
excited.  This  is  certain,  that  the  sense  exists  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  new  relations  with  foreign  governments,  of  a 
larger  accordance  with  their  spirit  and  principles,  and  of 
the  introduction  of  many  of  those  arts  which  make  them 
superior  in  warfare  and  in  influence  over  the  happiness 
and  condition  of  mankind.  It  is  certain  that  the  power- 
ful party  which  supports  him  will  be  greatly  affected  by 
his  personal  influence  and  that  of  the  members  of  the 
embassy  and  others  who  have  of  late  years  become  ac- 
quainted with  foreign  lands  and  the  improvements  of 
modern  science,  among  whom  must  be  classed  the  schol- 
ars of  Protestant  missions,  and  even  the  returned  Chinese 
visitors  to  California,  Australia  and  other  countries. 
But  it  is  no  less  certain  that  the  bad  behavior  of  foreign 
smugglers  of  opium,  acts  of  violence  at  the  ports  fre- 
quented by  foreign  shipping,  the  political  intrigues  of 
Bomish  priests  and  the  failure  of  the  powers  which  have 
contracted  with  China  to  fulfill  their  part,  in  the  letter 


436 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


or  the  spirit,  may  defeat  or  procrastinate  the  benefits 
which  have  been  hoped  for. 

But  whatsoever  the  course  of  other  powers  in  the 
future  toward  China,  we  may  trust  that  the  posture  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States  toward  her  will  be 
unchanged ; that  the  oldest  and  the  newest  empire  of 
the  world  will  mutually  support,  enrich  and  benefit  each 
other,  and  that  the  younger  will  continue  to  act  for  the 
elder  the  friendly  part  of  a mediator  and  interpreter 
with  the  other  nations  of  the  West. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT. 

/~\UR  ancestors  four  centuries  ago  found  numerous 
^ races  of  men,  very  different  from  any  they  had  ever 
before  seen,  occupying  this  newly-discovered  continent. 
And  our  further  acquaintance  with  them  shows  that 
these  races  differ  as  much  from  each  other  as  they  differ 
from  the  people  of  Europe.  In  stature,  in  complexion, 
in  the  features  of  the  face,  in  the  shape  of  the  skull,  in 
pursuits,  in  domestic  usages,  in  religious  worship,  in  the 
measure  of  intellect  and  in  energy,  they  widely  vary. 
The  widest  contrasts  have  existed  among  those  on  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  wretched  Digger  tribes  are  among  the 
lowest  of  mankind.  They  lie  on  the  ground  in  the  sun, 
their  low  foreheads,  bushy  thickets  of  short  hard  hair 
filled  with  vermin,  black  skins,  large  mouths  and  small 
vacant  eyes  indicating  a nature  little  above  that  of  the 
brutes.  And  yet  down  that  coast  formerly  ranged  the 
Toltec  and  the  Aztec,  the  remains  of  whose  cities  still 
exist,  whose  civilization  compares  with  that  of  the  nations 
of  Southern  Asia ; and  southward  we  find  the  remains  of 
those  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  Central  America  and 
of  Peru,  which  are  fully  as  wonderful.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  topics  of  the  present  volume  will  be  the  evi- 
dence that  these  civilized  people  were  of  Asiatic  origin. 

437 


438 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Whence  originated  the  tribes  of  the  Atlantic  coast  ? 
— is  a question  which  we  will  not  here  discuss.  They 
have  been  claimed  by  learned  men  writing  in  behalf  of 
the  Jews,  the  Phoenicians,  the  Irish  and  the  Welsh. 
Some  men  of  learning  do  not  doubt  that  the  Scandi- 
navian mariners  traced  our  Atlantic  coast  from  Green- 
land southward  the  whole  length  of  our  New  England 
States,  and  deposited  the  seeds  of  communities  which 
sprang  up  in  wild  forms  there.1  And  yet  the  narratives 
of  those  of  them  who  returned  to  Europe  show  that  they 
had  found  races  of  men  already  existing  there.  Whence 
came  those  races  ? The  legends  of  some  of  them — trans- 
lated by  Schoolcraft  and  others — point  to  a long  and 
dreary  path,  by  many  successive  migrations,  from  the 
farthest  north-west.  And  in  this  we  find  one  cause  of 
so  great  diversities  in  their  character. 

The  way  in  which  the  first  colonies  were  formed  upon 
the  Pacific  shores  must  be  borne  in  mind.  They  cer- 
tainly neither  originated  from  one  spot,  nor  were  com- 
menced at  one  period.  It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  earliest  individuals  found  their  way  hither  in 
the  most  remote  ages  of  history,  that  as  their  number 
increased  they  slowly  moved  toward  the  south  and  west, 
forming  naturally  as  they  progressed  new  habits,,  new 
ideas,  new  sounds  in  speech,  new  peculiarities  of  consti- 
tution. Those  longest  here  would  impart  most  power- 
fully their  acquired  characteristics  to  the  whole.  And 
yet  there  would  be  manifest  features  impressed  by  the 

1 The  most  satisfactory  accounts  of  these  are  contained  in  the  Antiquitates 
Americana  of  Rafx  (Danish  Counselor  of  State)  and  the  communications  of 
himself,  Repp  and  others  in  the  Memo  ires  de  la  Societe  Royale  des  Antiquaires 
du  Nord;  Copenhague ; 1836-39,  pp.  369-385,  and  1840-43,  pp.  5-15,  80-131, 
155-162. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  439 


elements  added  from  time  to  time  by  successive  additions 
from  the  Old  World.  Thus  we  may  trace  the  sources 
of  peculiarities  which  we  find  among  the  races  of  the 
New  World. 

The  first  class  of  evidence  of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the 
former  races  of  this  continent  we  find  in  the  great  agen- 
cies of  nature  employed  from  age  to  age  by  the  great 
Governor  of  the  world,  as  it  were  appointed  to  bring 
them  hither. 

The  ocean  was  by  our  fathers  regarded  as  a great  salt 
pond ; its  waters  only  moving  in  the  disturbance  of  its 
surface  by  the  winds,  or  as  they  rose  and  fell  by  the 
attraction  of  the  moon.  But  later  generations  have  dis- 
covered that  it  is  animated  by  a mighty  universal  life, 
which  circulates  from  pole  to  pole  and  around  the  globe. 
Cook  and  the  earliest  adventurers  upon  the  mild  Pacific 
observed  the  great  currents  which  sweep,  some  with 
great  rapidity,  governed  by  the  zone  and  by  the  con- 
formation of  the  opposite  continents,  with  majestic  flow 
from  shore  to  shore.  They  have  now  been  laid  down 
upon  our  charts  and  described  by  geographers.  Much 
light  has  been  thrown  upon  those  of  the  North  Pacific 
by  the  careful  observations  made  in  our  naval  and  mer- 
cantile vessels.  Great  interest  has  attached  to  the  suc- 
cessive developments  of  the  fact  that  a vast  current 
almost  fills  the  immense  surface  of  that  portion  of  the 
Pacific  within  the  temperate  zone,  resembling  the  Gulf 
Stream  in  the  Atlantic  ocean.  Rising  in  the  tropical 
zone,  south  of  the  Chinese  coast,  its  genial  warmth  is 
expended  at  last  upon  the  shores  of  California  and 
Mexico,  and  even  upon  those  of  Peru.  Its  velocity, 
opposite  the  Japanese  Islands,  reaches  seventy  or  eighty 


440 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


miles  a day.  Its  effects  upon  the  climate  of  the  Ameri- 
can coast  are  very  great.  “ The  winters  are  so  mild  in 
Puget’s  sound,  in  latitude  48°  north,  that  snow  rarely 
falls  there,  and  the  inhabitants  are  never  enabled  to  fill 
their  ice-houses  for  the  summer ; and  vessels  trading  to 
Petropaulowski  and  the  coast  of  Kamtschatka,  when  they 
become  unwieldy  from  accumulation  of  ice  upon  their 
hulls  and  rigging,  run  over  to  a higher  latitude  on  the 
American  coast  and  thaw  out,  in  the  same  manner  that 
vessels  frozen  up  on  our  own  coast  retreat  again  into  the 
Gulf  Stream  until  favored  by  an  easterly  wind.”1  Just 
as  the  current  of  the  Atlantic  Gulf  Stream  transports  the 
tropical  logs  from  the  shores  of  the  Caribbean  sea  and 
strands  them  upon  the  Hebrides  and  Norway,  so  that 
of  the  Kuri-siwu,  or  “ Black  Stream,”  as  the  Japanese 
style  it,  hears  the  waifs  of  Asia  to  the  Aleutian  Islands 
and  the  north-west  coast  of  America. 

The  winds,  too,  have  a great  commission  to  fulfill. 
The  lesson  of  modern  observation  is  that  they  too  move 
in  their  courses  according  to  the  appointment  of  a 
supreme  and  all-wise  will.  The  monsoons  of  the  In- 
dian and  Pacific  oceans  are  linked  in  a continuous  chain. 
What  is  known  in  the  Western  Pacific  as  the  south-west 
monsoon  commences  in  gentle  breezes,  blowing  steadily, 
however,  day  and  night  in  one  direction  from  April  till 
October,  off  Madagascar,  sweeps  along  the  whole  length 
of  the  continent  of  Africa  and  the  whole  breadth  of 
Asia,  whitening  the  billows  of  the  China  sea  with  the 
violence  of  a gale,  and  is  felt  with  diminishing  power  to 
the  centre  of  the  Pacific  ocean ; and  so  is  most  important 
as  an  aid  to  the  solution  of  the  question  we  are  now  con- 

1 Narrative  of  the  JJnited  States  Japan  Expedition,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  363-370. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  441 


sidering,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  American  races.  The 
effects  of  this  vast  atmospheric  tide,  whose  semi-annual 
ebb  and  flood  outreach  the  opposite  extremes  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  in  awakening  and  facilitating  inter- 
course and  trade  among  the  numerous  countries  and 
islands  within  its  limits,  impress  the  attention  of  one 
who  is  conversant  with  that  part  of  the  world.  But  it 
has  further  ends.  It  is  like  the  gifts  of  revelation  to  the 
Jews,  which  find  their  highest  significance  and  their 
wisest  interpreters  in  the  opposite  side  of  the  world  and 
in  the  end  of  time. 

The  stupendous  hurricanes  of  the  Indian  and  Pacific 
oceans  have  of  late  years  been  explained.  They  were 
formerly  regarded  by  seamen  with  the  utmost  terror. 
Whence  and  how  they  came  and  went  was  as  incompre- 
hensible to  that  class  of  men  as  any  other  awful  calamity 
with  which  he  that  is  permitted  to  go  to  and  fro  in  the 
earth,  walking  up  and  down  in  it,  chose  to  visit  them. 
But  now  it  is  known  that  an  arm  of  infinite  wisdom 
sways  their  great  movements.  Those  of  the  northern  and 
southern  hemisphere  rise  respectively  near  the  equator 
and  move  outward  toward  either  pole.  Those  of  the 
southern  hemisphere  invariably  revolve  on  their  centre, 
in  the  same  direction  with  the  hands  of  a watch ; that  is, 
from  north  to  east,  south  and  west.  Those  of  the  north- 
ern hemisphere  whirl  in  the  opposite  direction,  or  con- 
trary to  the  course  of  the  hands  of  a watch.  Those 
which  rise  in  the  China  sea  are  guided  by  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  coast  and  move  in  its  general  direction, 
and  within  two  or  three  degrees  of  it  pass  the  Japanese 
Islands,  vex  in  their  wrath  the  waters  of  the  North  Pa- 
cific, and  often  stretch  away  even  to  the  vicinity  of  the 


442 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Sandwich  Islands.  It  requires  little  imagination  to  con- 
ceive how  potent  an  agency  are  these  typhoons,  or  hurri- 
canes, in  distributing  the  populations  of  the  shores  which 
they  visit. 

Now  let  us  present  a second  class  of  evidence  as  to  the 
source  whence  these  races  in  America  sprang.  We  have 
abundant  proof  that  vessels  from  the  Asiatic  side  have 
been  wrecked  upon  the  American  coast  and  upon  the 
island  groups  of  the  Pacific  ocean  within  the  memory 
of  man. 

The  voyager  through  the  seas  that  skirt  the  empires 
of  China  and  Japan  will  be  amazed  to  see  the  countless 
vessels  of  every  kind  whose  heavy,  yellow  mat  sails  and 
high,  painted  poops  spot  the  blue  waves.  Some  of  them 
are  transports,  deeply  laden  with  rice,  salt  fish,  provisions 
of  every  kind  and  all  manner  of  wares  and  dry  goods. 
There  is  a boundless  internal  commerce  between  city 
and  city,  or  province  and  province,  or  with  neighboring 
countries  within  two  thousand  miles’  distance.  Some  are 
the  homes  of  a population  of  probably  several  millions 
in  all,  that,  like  aquatic  birds,  are  ever  on  the  wing  and 
subsist  wholly  by  fishing.  Families  are  born,  live  and 
die  upon  them,  who  only  visit  the  shore  to  obtain  the 
necessaries  of  life  or  to  propitiate  the  gods  that  rule  the 
sea.  Merchants,  pilgrims,  emigrants  and  others  travel 
upon  these  various  classes  of  vessels. 

These  craft  sometimes  are  driven  from  or  mistake 
their  course.  And  when  the  demons  of  the  terrible 
typhoon  drive  through  their  fleets,  numbers  are  hurried 
far  off  into  seas  unknown  to  them,  to  be  speedily  sunk, 
or  to  be  tossed  about  they  know  not  whither  for  weary 
months,  subsisting  upon  the  cargoes  of  provisions  on 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  443 

board  of  them,  the  fish  they  catch  and  the  rains  of 
heaven,  or  to  be  cast  upon  remote  islands  or  countries 
and  see  their  native  land  no  more. 

A dozen  cases  of  Japanese  or  Chinese  junks  picked 
up  at  sea,  or  wrecked  upon  our  north-west  coast  or  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  have  come  to  my  knowledge,  by  the 
newspapers  or  in  conversation  with  seamen,  within  but 
a few  years.  I have  seen  Japanese  in  San  Francisco 
thus  rescued  at  different  times.  Captain  C.  J.  W.  Rus- 
sell, for  some  time  a resident  among  the  Indian  tribes 
north  of  the  Columbia  river,  informed  me  that  he  found 
there  legends  of  vessels  which  had  been  cast  upon  that 
coast,  having  people  of  a strange  nation  on  board ; and 
he  presented  me  with  two  copper  coins  obtained  from 
the  Indians,  which  both  contain  the  inscription,  in  Chi- 
nese characters,  “ Kwan-yung.  Current  Money.” 
“ Kwan-yung”  is  the  name  of  the  emperor  under  whose 
reign  the  money  was  coined,  but  I have  been  unable  to 
ascertain  whether  he  was  Chinese  or  Japanese,  or  when 
he  lived.  If  Chinese,  they  are  more  than  two  centuries 
old,  since  they  do  not  possess  the  Manchu  characters 
which  distinguish  the  issues  of  the  present  dynasty. 
Part  of  the  crew  of  a Japanese  junk,  wrecked  upon  our 
shores  about  1832,  found  their  way  to  England  and 
thence  to  China,  and  there  they  assisted  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Gutzlaff  to  translate  into  their  native  tongue  portions  of 
the  word  of  God.1 

Four  thousand  years  may  have  elapsed  since  the  first 

1 Dibble,  History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  pp.  12,  13,  mentions  a crew  of 
Japanese  brought  there  in  1839,  and  another  in  1840,  by  whale-ships.  The 
Hawaiian  Spectator,  vol.  i.,  describes  at  length  a Japanese  junk  that  came  in 
there  with  four  survivors  on  hoard  in  1832.  The  natives  when  they  beheld 
them  exclaimed,  “It  is  plain  now  that  we  are  from  Asia l’y 


444 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


craft  coasted  from  point  to  point  along  the  Asiatic  shores. 
Who  shall  say  when  the  first  wretched  hand,  after  weary 
months  of  hunger  and  thirst,  wakened  the  echoes  of  the 
human  voice  among  the  wildernesses  of  this  virgin  hemi- 
sphere ? From  that  day  to  this  it  is  probable  no  century 
has  passed  without  involuntary  additions  from  the  parent 
climes. 

An  analogical  argument  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Ameri- 
can races  may  be  drawn  from  the  spread  of  the  Malay 
family.  The  migrations  of  mankind  in  every  age  seem 
to  pursue,  if  possible,  nearly  the  same  threads  of  the 
earth’s  latitude  along  which  they  were  commenced. 
They  naturally  prefer  kindred  climates  and  productions 
of  the  earth  to  which  men  and  the  domestic  animals 
have  been  accustomed.  And,  as  has  been  shown,  the 
winds  of  heaven  and  the  currents  of  the  ocean  are  dis- 
posed to  gratify  this  tendency.  Thus  the  Malay  stock 
is  essentially  tropical  and  nautical.  From  their  pri- 
meval starting-point  upon  the  shores  of  the  Indian 
ocean  they  have  crept  eastward  and  westward,  following 
their  burning  native  sun,  until  now  we  behold  the  re- 
markable expansion  of  affiliated  tribes  and  dialects,  from 
Madagascar  upon  the  one  extreme  as  far  as  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  the  last  Polynesian  group,  upon  the 
other.  Never  penetrating  far  inland  upon  the  Asiatic 
and  African  continents,  they  have  yet  displayed  a mari- 
time enterprise  and  endurance  that  has  bridged  vast 
oceanic  expanses.  The  islanders  of  the  Pacific  volun- 
tarily hazard  voyages  to  distant  groups,  carrying  them 
several  days  out  of  sight  of  land  in  their  tiny  canoes. 
At  the  Sandwich  Islands,  after  a careful  comparison  of 
the  native  language  with  several  dialects  of  the  Chinese, 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  445 


I could  observe  no  analogies  of  importance  beyond  the 
natural  infantile  sounds  common  to  all  the  tongues  of 
the  globe.  And  it  appears  to  have  not  much  connection 
with  the  Japanese,  Corean  and  other  branches  of  the 
Chinese  family  of  languages  at  the  north.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  there  are  many  of  its  words  found  in  the 
vocabularies  of  the  Malay,  and  of  the  Marquesan,  the 
Samoan,  the  New  Zealand  and  other  Pacific  groups; 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bishop  and  other  intelligent  mission- 
aries assured  me  that,  stretching  far  over  all  the  inter- 
vening and  disordered  forms  of  human  speech,  they  have 
been  astonished  to  find  almost  the  accents  of  their  Haw- 
aiian disciples  half-way  around  the  world,  among  the 
persecuted  Christians  of  Madagascar.1  This  dispersion 
of  the  Malays  over  a breadth  of  ten  thousand  miles  of 
the  tropic  zone  renders  just  the  inference  that  the  Chi- 
nese race  especially,  which  is  so  much  more  numerous 
and  energetic,  employing  vessels  so  much  more  capacious, 
some  of  them  measuring  hundreds  of  tons  burden,  and 
freighting  these  vessels  with  provisions  so  much  more 
substantial  and  cured  with  salt  or  sugar,  should  have 
successfully  endured  even  longer  and  more  perilous  voy- 
ages over  the  flowing  seas  of  their  own  temperate  zone. 
The  manifest  Malayan  origin  of  the  Pacific  Islanders 
is  a premise  which  almost  of  necessity  implies  the  Chi- 
nese and  Japanese  origin  of  the  swarms  that  we  trace 
from  all  parts  of  our  continent  back  to  the  north-west 
coast. 

Third.  Reference  may  be  made  to  the  fact  that  legends 

1 W.  Ellis,  the  well-known  English  missionary,  comes  to  the  same  conclusion 
( Polynesian  Researches,  vol.  iv.,  p.  461.  London,  1854) : “ The  aboriginal  lan- 
guages of  Madagascar  and  the  South  Sea  Islands  are  strikingly  analogous,  if  not 
identical.” 


446 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


exist  among  tlie  Asiatic  nations  of  people  that  have  wan- 
dered to  and  populated  regions  far  to  the  east  of  them. 

The  J esuit  missionaries  among  the  Tartars  heard  them 
narrate  traditions  that  some  of  their  ancestors  had  been 
borne  across  the  waters  to  a far-off  continent  upon  cakes 
of  ice.  Humboldt  advances  the  idea  that  the  Toltecs  or 
Aztecs  may  be  the  descendants  of  a body  of  Huns,  who, 
according  to  the  Chinese  historians,  emigrated  under 
their  leader  Punon,  and  were  lost  in  the  north  parts  of 
Siberia.1  The  intelligent  Japanese  appear  to  have  pos- 
sessed not  only  some  ideas  of  the  existence  of  regions  far 
toward  the  sunrise  from  their  island  home,  but  to  have 
familiarized  them  in  connection  with  the  designation  of 
the  land  by  the  name  Fusang.  But  the  Chinese  afford  us 
more  distinct  information  than  any  other  nation  as  to  the 
locality  and  character  of  this  Oriental  Atlantis.  They 
seem  to  have  borrowed  for  it  the  Japanese  appellation 
Fusang,  unless  that  be  imagined  to  owe  its  derivation  to 
the  language  of  the  land  itself.  The  following  article, 
translated  from  an  extensive  Chinese  Encyclopaedia  (the 
Yuen- Men- lui-han,  pp.  44  and  45,  of  the  231st  volume 
or  book),  will  entertain  the  reader: 

“ Fusang. — In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  the  em- 
peror Wing-yuen,  of  the  Tsi  dynasty  [about  A.T).  499], 
some  Shaman  priests,  men  of  learning,  came  to  King- 
chau  from  Fusang.  They  described  the  country  as  sit- 
uated some  twenty  thousand  Chinese  furlongs2 3  to  the  east 
of  Ta-han,  and  eastward  also  from  China.  It  derives 
its  name  from  the  wood  called  fusang,  which  abounds 

1 Tableaux  de  la  Nature,  i.,  53,  and  Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  New 

Spain,  vol.  i.,  p.  101. 

3 The  Chinese  li,  or  furlong,  is  rather  longer  than  two  of  our  furlongs. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  447 


there.  The  foliage  of  the  fusang  tree  resembles  that  of 
the  jatropha.  The  early  sprouts  are  like  those  of  the 
bamboo.  The  fruit  is  eaten  as  we  do  pears.  The  bark 
is  woven  into  cloth  for  garments  and  for  embroidery. 
The  cities  are  unwalled.  They  possess  some  literature, 
their  paper  being  made  of  the  bark  of  the  fusang.  The 
soldiery  are  not  clad  in  mail,  and  do  not  venture  to  en- 
gage in  open  battle.” 

The  account  proceeds  to  mention  some  circumstances 
to  illustrate  the  severity  with  which  crimes  were  pun- 
ished by  imprisonment  for  various  terms,  and  even  for 
life ; the  penalty,  according  to  the  grade  of  the  offence, 
involving  either  self  alone  or  the  immediate  offspring, 
or  sometimes  even  those  to  the  seventh  degree  of  rela- 
tionship, and'  the  sale  into  slavery  of  children  born  in 
prison.  It  notices  as  a peculiarity  of  the  trial  of  prison- 
ers, that  they  “ate  and  drank  in  the  presence  of  the 
judges.”  It  continues  as  follows : 

“ The  king  is  styled  the  yih-Jci,  the  first  rank  of  no- 
bility the  tui-lu,  the  second  the  inferior  tui-lu,  the  third 
the  na-tuh-sha.  The  king  travels  in  great  state,  attended 
by  bands  of  martial  music.  The  royal  apparel  is  varied 
each  two  years,  and  the  five  colors — green,  red,  yellow, 
black  and  white — are  adopted  for  that  period  in  succes- 
sion. Many  kinds  of  wheeled  vehicles  are  in  use,  drawn 
by  horses,  oxen  and  deer.  Deer  are  raised  also  to  fur- 
nish milk  for  the  manufacture  of  fermented  spirits. 
Pears  grow  there  of  a red  species  which  keeps  sound 
throughout  the  year.  The  cat-tail  reed  or  rush  is  exceed- 
ingly abundant.  So  also  is  the  peach.  Of  iron  there  is 
none,  but  copper  is  found  there.  The  mode  of  con- 
tracting marriage  is  for  the  lover  to  erect  a temporary 


448 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


dwelling  close  beside  that  of  the  maiden  he  desires,  and 
to  serve  her,  even  in  menial  offices,  for  a whole  year. 
If  not  pleased  with  him,  she  is  then  at  liberty  to  discard 
him  ; if  mutually  satisfied,  the  nuptials  are  consummated. 
Buddhism  did  not  originally  exist  in  that  country.  But 
in  the  second  year  of  the  emperor  Ta-ming  of  the  Sung 
dynasty  [about  A.D.  459]  five  pi-Jceu,  or  mendicant 
priests,  from  Ki-pin,  went  through  the  country  distrib- 
uting Buddhist  writings  and  setting  up  images.  Its 
form  of  religion  has  in  consequence  undergone  a change.” 
The  question  whether  the  Chinese  by  Fusang  can 
mean  North  America  has  been  discussed  with  much 
interest  by  American  and  European  scholars.  There 
was  no  knowledge  here,  it  is  objected,  of  the  peach ; and 
there  were  certainly  no  horses.  Yet  the  points  of  resem- 
blance between  their  descriptions  of  it  and  those  of  the 
Aztec  empire  furnished  by  the  Spanish  writers  are  so 
numerous  and  distinct  that  the  general  opinion  favors 
the  view  that  they  are  the  same.  It  was  advocated  by 
De  Guignes,  by  several  of  the  French  missionaries,1  by 
Horn,  Scherer,  Sir  William  Jones,  Paravey,  Neumann 
and  Humboldt.  Bradford,2  Schoolcraft,3  Gallatin,  Mc- 

1 There  is  an  interesting  presentation  of  the  subject  in  Lettres  Edejiantes  el 
Curieuses  (Paris,  1843) ; iv.,  1-75. 

1 Bradford  expressly  says  that  the  Japanese  ships  once  visited  the  countries 
west  of  them  as  far  as  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  had  reached  the  shores  of 
North  America  to  the  east,  which  they  knew  by  the  designation  Fusang. — 
American  Antiquities,  p.  233. 

3 H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  in  his  numerous  and  valuable  works  on  Indian  an- 
tiquities, often  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  the  Oriental  origin  of  the  language, 
legends,  religions  and  customs  of  our  aborigines.  For  example,  in  the  Algic 
Researches  (vol.  i.,  pp.  44,  45)  he  says : 

“That  the  tribes  themselves  are  of  Oriental  origin  is  probable  from  the 
grammatical  structure  of  their  languages  and  their  mode  of  expressing  thought. 
But  it  i3  apparent  that  their  separation  took  place  at  a very  ancient  period.” 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  449 


Culloh,  Squier  and  other  writers  on  American  antiqui- 
ties, maintain  the  same  opinion. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  name  Fusang  probably 
means  Japan.  The  reply  may  be  made  that  the  Chinese 
have  no  such  name  for  Japan,  and  say  that  the  country 
spoken  of  is  six  thousand  miles  eastward  of  Japan.  It 
has  been  imagined  that  the  name  is  derived  from  a 
species  of  wood  produced  in  the  latter  country ; but  the 
Japanese  have  no  such  name  for  any  tree,  as  I am 
assured  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn,  the  author  of  the  dic- 
tionary of  that  language  which  has  been  lately  pub- 
lished, and  one  of  the  best  scholars  in  that  literature. 

There  are  several  points  of  the  Chinese  accounts  from 
which  I have  quoted  that  deserve  to  be  compared  with 
what  we  know  of  the  Aztecs.  Among  them  are  their 
use  of  the  bark  of  various  trees  for  cloth  and  for  paper, 
their  possession  of  a hieroglyphic  system  of  writing,  and 
the  number  of  their  written  volumes,  which  was  so  great 
that  the  Spaniards  say  they  heaped  up  “ mountains  of 
them”  and  burned  them.  The  observation  that  the 
criminal  on  trial  “ eats  and  drinks  in  the  presence  of  the 
judges”  finds  a remarkable  counterpart  in  the  words  of 
the  familiar  history  of  Prescott:  “The  judges  wore  an 
appropriate  dress,  and  attended  to  business  both  parts 
of  the  day,  dining  always,  for  the  sake  of  dispatch,  in 
an  apartment  of  the  same  building  where  they  held  their 
session — a method  of  proceeding  much  commended  by 
the  Spanish  chroniclers,  to  whom  dispatch  was  not  very 
familiar  in  their  own  tribunals.”  The  abundance  of 
copper  and  the  want  of  iron  is  mentioned,  while  it  is 
said  “ they  did  not  esteem  silver  and  gold.”  Here  again 
we  notice  a strange  coincidence.  “ The  use  of  iron,  with 

29 


450 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


■which  their  soil  is  impregnated,  was  unknown  to  them. 
They  found  a substitute  in  an  alloy  of  copper  and  tin, 
and  with  tools  made  of  this  bronze  could  cut  the  hardest 
metals”  and  stones.  The  extraordinary  assertion  that 
they  “ did  not  esteem  silver  and  gold,”  meets  its  parallel 
in  the  enumeration  of  the  revenue  of  the  Aztec  emperor, 
where  our  American  historian  says : “ In  this  curious 
medley  of  the  most  homely  commodities  and  the  elegant 
superfluities  of  luxury,  it  is  singular  that  no  mention 
should  be  made  of  silver,  the  great  staple  of  the  country 
in  later  times,  the  use  of  which  was  certainly  known  to 
the  Aztecs.”1 

The  letters  of  Cortes  to  his  sovereign,  the  emperor 
Charles  V.,  contain  numerous  pictures  which  seem  as  if 
painted  from  Asiatic  originals.  Thus,  in  describing  the 
palace  of  Mutezuma,  he  says  of  the  carvings,  “ The  gold 
and  the  silver  are  wrought  so  naturally  as  not  to  be  sur- 
passed by  any  smith  in  the  world;  the  stone-work  is 
executed  with  such  perfection  that  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive what  instruments  could  have  been  employed,  and 
the  feather- work  is  superior  to  the  finest  productions  in 
wax  or  embroidery.”  Its  separate  edifices  were  beauti- 
fied by  numerous  “ conservatories  of  flowers.”  Its  royal 
meals  were  “served  by  three  or  four  hundred  youths,  who 
brought  on  an  infinite  variety  of  dishes.”  Its  etiquette 
was  so  tedious  that  “no  sultan  or  other  infidel  lord, 
of  whom  any  knowledge  now  exists,  ever  had  so  much 
ceremonial  in  their  courts.”  The  members  of  the  court 
wore  dresses  of  cotton  which  “ could  not  be  equaled  in 
the  whole  world,  either  in  texture  or  in  the  variety  and 

1 History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  pp.  32,  138,  140. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  451 


beauty  of  tlie  colors,  or  in  tlie  workmanship.” 1 These 
letters  of  Cortes  strongly  remind  one  of  the  narratives 
of  Marco  Polo,  Rubruquis  and  the  early  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  to  India,  China  and  Japan.  And,  indeed, 
it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  should  imagine 
he  had  reached  the  remoter  provinces  of  those  countries. 

There  was  everything  to  beguile  the  Spaniard  into 
the  belief  that  he  saw  before  him  “ the  Indians”  them- 
selves. When  he  cast  his  eyes  over  the  country  he 
beheld  the  same  respect  paid  to  agriculture  as  a profes- 
sion, the  same  dependence  of  government  on  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  soil  chiefly  for  its  revenue,  and  the  payment 
of  taxes  in  kind;  also  similar  modes  of  irrigation  to 
increase  the  yield  of  the  earth,  hills  terraced  and  culti- 
vated to  their  very  summits,  and  large  public  granaries 
in  which  the  excess  of  the  luxuriant  harvest  was  de- 
posited for  years  of  drought  and  famine.  In  the  place 
of  trade  he  saw  the  same  association  of  merchants  and 
mechanics  into  powerful  guilds  for  the  protection  of 
their  privileges  and  their  prices.  In  the  street  the 
coolies  bore  the  burden  that  belongs,  in  our  ideas,  to  the 
horse  or  the  ass,  and  there  were  no  wheeled  carriages. 
The  soldier  strutted  by  him  in  armor  of  quilted  cotton 
holding  the  bow  and  arrows.  In  the  workshop  he  was 
delighted  by  the  same  dazzling  exhibition  of  fine  porce- 
lain, of  lacquer- work  in  wood,  of  cotton  cloth,  of  silk  spun 
from  the  thread  of  a worm,  of  precious  stones  skillfully 
cut  and  polished  and  of  different  metals  splendidly  en- 
chased. About  the  abodes  of  wealth  he  wandered  in 
brilliant  gardens,  containing  collections  of  plants  then  not 
excelled  by  any  in  Europe,  adorned  by  sparkling  pools 

1 Letter  ii.,  chap.  v.  (Translation  by  George  Folsom;  New  York,  1843). 


452 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


and  airy  pavilions,  whose  graceful  pillars  were  inscribed 
with  poetic  or  fanciful  quotations.  Within  those  abodes 
he  witnessed  the  same  regulation  of  marriage,  one 
proper  wife,  with  an  unlimited  number  of  inferiors  in 
concubinage;  the  same  jealous  separation  of  males  and 
females  at  their  meals,  and  the  same  frivolous  employ- 
ment of  high-born  females  in  the  arts  of  embroidery, 
music,  gambling  and  the  toilet.  Did  he  mingle  in  the 
social  life  of  the  Aztecs,  the  abundance  of  sweetmeats  at 
their  feasts  and  the  succeeding  exhibitions  of  plays  and 
juggling,  the  ceremonious  gifts,  the  use  of  snuff  and  the 
peculiar  mode  in  which  the  smoke  of  tobacco  was  inhaled 
into  the  lungs,  might  have  cheated  him  into  the  belief 
that  he  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  some  mandarin  of 
Kwang-tung.  Should  he  converse  with  a company  of 
students,  their  attention  to  astrology,  their  use  of  a 
hieroglyphic  and  ideographic  system  of  characters  in 
writing,  the  surprising  resemblance  of  the  calendar  and 
the  principle  of  the  annotation  of  time,  which  has  been 
so  much  remarked  by  the  learned  of  Europe,  nay,  even 
as  minute  a circumstance  as  the  mode  of  preserving  their 
books,  not  in  scrolls,  but  in  alternate  fan-like  folds,  would 
have  confirmed  his  delusion.  And  how  would  he  have 
accounted  for  some  things  still  more  peculiar,  such  as 
that  remarkable  usage,  common  to  the  Chinese  and 
Aztec  emperors,  of  appointing  stated  days  for  the  public 
assemblage  of  their  courts  to  hear  something  like  a hor- 
tatory moral  discourse  addressed  to  them,  or  such  an  in- 
stitution as  the  establishment  of  public  literary  examina- 
tions of  prose  and  poetical  compositions  and  the  bestow- 
ment  of  prizes  and  rewards  to  successful  candidates  ? 

The  Chinese  descriptions  of  Fusang  say  that  Buddhist 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  453 


priests  went  there  in  the  fifth  century  of  the  Christian 
era  and  converted  the  people  to  their  faith.  To  those 
who  judge  according  to  Western  ideas  of  the  facility  of 
the  communication  of  such  a fact,  if  anything  like  it  did 
occur,  back  from  the  one  continent  to  the  other,  this 
statement  will  seem  incredible.  But  it  will  not  seem  so 
to  those  who  know  that,  rapidly  and  wddely  as  important 
news  fly  by  the  agency  of  the  newspaper,  in  the  nations 
of  the  East  they  spread  almost  as  swiftly  by  the  mouths 
of  merchants  and  sailors  and  monks  and  government 
couriers,  and  by  beacons,  and  almost  as  by  some  instinct 
of  the  sharp-sighted  and  quick-eared  people.  And  there 
are  strange  links  which  lead  parts  the  remotest  from  each 
other  to  feel  a mutual  religious  sympathy.  Alfred  the 
Great  sent  the  bishop  of  Sherborne  to  bear  his  greetings 
from  Britain  to  the  Syriac  Christians  in  India ; Prester 
John  sent  a commission  from  Tibet  to  the  pope  of  Rome ; 
and  the  roving  tribes  of  Northern  Asia  and  America  com- 
municate to  vast  distances,  and  from  one  side  to  the  other 
of  the  straits  which  divide  the  Old  from  the  New  World, 
important  matters  of  concern,  either  social  or  spiritual. 

But  whether  the  information  of  the  success  of  Buddh- 
ism across  the  waters  ever  became  known  at  its  original 
seats  is  a secondary  question.  The  main  one  is  that  it 
really  did  give  its  character  to  the  Aztec  institutions. 
This  is  very  manifest  to  one  acquainted  with  it  in  Asia 
who  will  trace  the  countless  points  of  resemblance  in  this 
respect  between  the  Aztecs  and  the  Buddhist  nations  of 
Eastern  Asia.  They  resemble  each  other  in  their  pri- 
mary ideas  of  the  divine  Being,  of  good  and  evil  spirits, 
of  the  depravity  of  matter  and  of  the  transmigration  of 
the  soul ; in  their  general  use  of  monastic  forms  and  dis- 


454 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


cipline;  in  their  penances,  ablutions,  almsgivings  and 
public  festivals ; in  the  employment  of  water  as  a symbol 
of  sanctification ; in  the  worship  of  their  household  gods ; 
in  the  offices  of  their  tutelary  gods ; in  the  devotion  of 
the  priests  to  the  studies  of  astrology  and  astronomy ; in 
the  admission  of  virgin  females  to  the  vows  and  rites  of 
the  cloister;  in  some  of  the  titles  and  functions  of 
various  prominent  deities ; in  the  bells  struck  with  a 
wooden  mallet ; in  the  incense,  liturgies  and  chants  of 
their  worship ; in  their  use  of  charms  and  amulets ; in 
their  erection  of  charitable  hospitals  for  the  sick  and 
asylums  for  the  disabled  classes  of  society ; in  the 
assumption  of  the  right  to  educate  the  youth ; in  some 
of  their  forms  of  burial,  or  burning  the  dead  and  the 
preservation  of  the  ashes  in  urns. 

Besides  the  notices  of  Fusang  in  the  Chinese  litera- 
ture which  we  have  considered,  there  are  imperfect 
legends  found  among  other  Asiatic  nations  of  the  ancient 
discovery  and  population  of  distant  regions  across  the 
“ Great  Eastern  Ocean.”  The  French  father  Aquila,  for 
instance,  mentions  the  existence  among  the  Tartars  of 
some  relating  to  ancestors  of  theirs  who,  they  said,  wan- 
dered far  to  the  north-east  and  crossed  to  another 
country  upon  cakes  of  ice. 

A fourth  class  of  evidence,  as  to  the  Asiatic  origin  of 
the  early  races  of  this  continent,  I will  notice  but  briefly. 
It  is  analogous  to  that  employed  under  the  last  head  to 
explain  and  illustrate  the  Chinese  accounts  of  Fusang. 
It  consists  in  the  resemblances  of  language,  customs  and 
religion  among  the  people  of  this  continent  to  those  of 
the  nations  of  Eastern  Asia. 

The  straits  named  by  the  empress  Catharine  of  Russia 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  455 


after  a German  officer  in  her  employ,  Vitus  Behring,  are 
far  more  narrow  and  easily  passed  than  is  commonly 
supposed.  From  East  Cape  in  Asia  to  Cape  Prince  of 
Wales  in  America  the  distance  is  but  thirty-six  miles. 
They  are  each  high  and  prominent,  so  that  they  may  be 
seen  from  the  opposite  sides  in  clear  weather.  In  the 
summer,  large  canoes,  under  sail  or  paddled  by  the  na- 
tives, often  cross,  either  singly  or  in  fleets.  In  the  winter 
the  straits  are  frozen  solid,  and  the  people  come  and  go 
on  the  ice  as  upon  the  snow  of  the  mainland.1  It  is  not 
strange  then  that  the  dialects  of  the  Tchuktchis  and 
other  tribes  on  the  Asiatic  side  should  be  easily  traced 
in  those  of  the  people  occupying  the  higher  latitudes  of 
this  continent.  A large  number  of  Tchuktchi  words  are 
the  same  in  the  Esquimaux  language.2 

1 The  narratives  of  Captain  Cook  and  several  of  the  Arctic  voyagers  illus- 
trate these  statements.  The  following  is  from  a late  visitor  to  that  region,  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  expedition  which  explored  a route  for  the  pro- 
posed telegraph  to  the  Kussian  possessions  (Frederick;  Whymper.  Travel, 
etc.,  in  Alaska,  pp.  278,  etc.) : 

“ Scientific  men  are  now  agreed  as  to  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the  Esquimaux, 
even  of  those  who  have  migrated  as  far  as  Greenland.  Of  the  Mongolian  origin 
of  the  Tchuktchis  themselves  no  one  who  has  seen  individuals  of  that  people 
would  for  a moment  doubt.  [A  story  is  here  told  by  the  author  of  a Tchuktchi 
boy,  taken  to  San  Francisco  by  Colonel  Bulkley,  the  engineer-in-chief  of  the 
telegraph  expedition,  who  constantly  passed  there  for  a Chinese.]  That  the 
Aleuts  also  are  of  an  Eastern  stock  is  to  my  mind  undoubted.  The  inter-tribal 
trade  carried  on  so  regularly  every  year  vid  Behring’s  Straits  proved  with  how 
little  difficulty  a tribe  of  wandering  Tchuktchis  might  cross  from  Asia  and 
populate  the  northern  coasts  of  America.  Open  skin-canoes,  capable  of  con- 
taining twenty  or  more  persons  with  their  effects,  and  hoisting  several  masts 
and  sails,  are  now  frequently  to  be  observed  among  both  the  sea-coast  Tchuktchis 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Northern  Alaska.” 

1 Whymper  gives  the  following  comparative  vocabularies  of  a tribe  in 
Alaska  and  the  Esquimaux  of  Greenland  [Travel,  etc.,  pp.  253,  254) : 
Malemute.  Greenland  Esquimaux. 

I W ounga Uanga. 

He Oona Una. 


456 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  Athapascas,  or  Chipewyans,  occupy  the  vast 
regions  between  Hudson’s  Bay  and  the  Bocky  Moun- 
tain range,  south  of  the  Esquimaux.  They  declare  that 
they  came  from  Siberia,  and  of  the  truth  of  this  their 
dress  and  manners  and  religious  practices  bear  witness. 
At  far-distant  points  upon  the  continent  connections  may 
be  observed  with  them.  The  language  of  the  Apaches 
in  Mexico  has  been  found  to  very  closely  resemble  that 
of  the  Athapascas.1 

Commencing  with  the  portion  of  the  continent  occu- 
pied by  the  Toltecs  and  the  Aztecs,  of  which  sufficient 
has  been  said,  we  find  the  Pacific  shore  occupied  down 
to  Peru  in  South  America  with  a succession  of  nations 
whose  civilization  is  of  the  same  Asiatic  kind,  not  in- 
ferior in  the  grandeur  of  its  remains,  and  as  distinctly 
marked  by  the  symbolism  of  the  religions  of  the  lands 
of  the  East.  The  prevailing  style  of  the  ruins  of  the  tem- 
ples of  Yucatan  is  Buddhist.  The  paintings  in  which 
the  sacred  red  is  the  prevailing  color,  the  rich  and  orna- 


Malemute. 

Greenland  Esquimaux. 

We 

You 

Man 

Woman 

Day 

Sun 

Water 

Snow 

Ice 

Head 

Face 

Mouth 

Teeth 

Wood 

Canoe 

1 Prof.  W.  W.  Turner,  of  Washington  city,  quoted  in  Pritchard,  ii.,  519. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  457 


mented  cornices,  the  heavy  beams  of  carved  wood,  the 
elaborate  sculpture  in  stone,  the  recurrence  of  symbols 
common  in  Chinese  and  Japanese  temples,  especially  the 
figures  of  serpents,  or  dragons,  encircling  the  ornaments 
and  prominent  parts  of  the  edifices,  give  an  Oriental 
aspect  to  them.1  A good  enamel  covered  some  of  the 
excellent  specimens  of  earthenware.  And  the  taste  ex- 
hibited in  some  of  the  palaces  was  so  cultivated  and 
correct  that  some  of  the  ornaments  “ tried  by  the 
severest  rules  of  art  recognized  among  us  would  em- 
bellish the  architecture  of  any  known  era.”2 

The  great  Japan  or  North  Pacific  current,  after  warm- 
ing the  coasts  of  North  America,  is  lost  upon  the  north- 
western shores  of  South  America;  just  as  its  Atlantic 
counterpart,  after  imparting  its  mild  temperature  to 
Western  Europe,  disappears  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
And  it  is  finally  upon  the  coast  of  Peru  that  this  giant 
river  of  the  ocean  would  land  things  borne  upon  its 
surface. 

The  legends  of  Peru  indicate  the  occasional  myste- 
rious appearance  among  them  of  men  and  women  of  races 
superior  to  that  which  had  existed  there.  Such  were 
Manco  Capac  and  Mama  Oello  Huaco,  a man  and  woman 
who  said  they  were  “ children  of  the  sun,”  which  is  an 
exact  translation  of  the  name  of  Japan,  and  also  of  a 
title  commonly  given  to  the  emperor  of  China ; and  who 
taught  them  the  arts  of  civilization  much  higher  than  any 

1 Stephens  ( Travels  in  Central  America,  etc.,  i.,  314)  says  of  the  House  of 
the  Dwarf  at  Uxmal : “ The  emblems  of  life  and  death  appear  on  the  wall  in 
close  juxtaposition,  confirming  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  that  worship  prac- 
ticed by  the  Egyptians  and  all  other  Eastern  nations,  and  before  referred  to  as 
prevalent  amoDg  the  people  of  Uxmal.” 

1 Stephens.  Travels,  etc.,  i.,  389. 


458 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


before  known  in  Peru.  Whence  came  these  strange 
visitants  ? There  seems  no  explanation  possible  save  by 
the  presumption  either  that  they  found  their  way  from 
the  land  of  the  Aztecs,  or  that  they  were  passengers 
upon  one  of  those  ancient  vessels,  built  with  the  greatest 
solidity,  and  laden  with  rice,  wheat,  barley,  dried  and 
salt  provisions  and  fruits,  which  traffic  through  the 
Eastern  Pacific  and  are  swept  abroad  over  the  surface  of 
that  great  ocean  by  the  typhoons,  of  which  there  are 
several  in  a single  autumn.  Save  for  the  difficulty  of 
collecting  water  from  the  rains  after  the  supply  on  board 
has  been  exhausted,  there  is  no  reason  why  a few  per- 
sons might  not  survive  upon  such  a ponderous  craft  as 
long  as  some  of  our  shipwrecked  seamen  have  done  upon 
rocky  islets  in  the  heart  of  the  same  ocean.  The  history 
of  many  a European  or  American  Alexander  Selkirk, 
who  midst  such  a scene  has  cried, 

“ I am  out  of  humanity’s  reach, 

I must  finish  my  journey  alone,” 

puts  in  our  hand  a thread  which  may  guide  us  out  of 
the  darkness  and  mystery  of  the  origin  of  the  empire 
of  the  Incas  into  the  light  of  a rational  interpretation  of 
it.  The  hindrance  to  this  is  more  in  the  imaginations 
of  our  scholars  in  their  closets  than  in  the  facts  of  provi- 
dence annually  transpiring  in  that  hemisphere. 

The  customs  and  institutions  of  the  Peruvians,  when 
first  visited  by  the  Spaniards,  wonderfully  resembled 
what  the  same  discoverers  found  in  Mexico.  They  have 
been  painted  with  such  life,  minuteness  and  beauty  by 
numerous  writers  in  our  own  tongue  that  we  can  dispense 
with  a description  of  them  at  this  time.  What  has  been 
previously  said  of  those  of  the  Aztecs  may  almost  be 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  459 


applied  to  those  of  the  Incas.  The  Oriental  character 
of  the  South  American  race,  if  there  be  difference,  is 
even  more  marked  than  that  of  the  people  of  the  North. 
The  construction  of  the  royal  roads  which  led  to  Cuzco 
and  Quito  is  equaled  by  no  masonry  outside  of  the  Chi- 
nese empire.1  The  skill  in  the  composition  and  working 

1 This  whole  most  interesting  subject  is  presented  with  the  greatest  possible 
brevity  ; but  in  relation  to  the  military  roads  of  the  Peruvians  I may  be  allowed 
to  quote  the  following  paragraphs  from  the  most  eminent  philosopher  of  our  day, 
who  himself  inspected  these  wonderful  remains,  which  are  so  Asiatic  in  their 
character,  to  show  how  broad  and  fertile  is  the  field  of  research : 

“ The  impressions  produced  on  the  mind  by  the  natural  characters  of  these 
wildernesses  of  the  Cordilleras  are  heightened,  in  a remarkable  and  unexpected 
manner,  from  its  being  in  those  very  regions  that  we  still  see  admirable  remains 
of  the  gigantic  work — the  artificial  road  of  the  Incas — which  formed  a line  of 
communication  through  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  extending  over  a length 
of  more  than  a thousand  English  geographical  miles.  We  find  placed,  at  nearly 
equal  distances  apart,  stations  consisting  of  dwelling-houses  built  of  well-cut 
stone ; they  are  a kind  of  caravanserai,  and  are  called  tambos  and  sometimes 
Inca-pilca  (from  pircca,  the  wall?).  Some  of  them  are  surrounded  by  a kind 
of  fortification ; others  were  constructed  for  baths,  with  arrangements  for  con- 
ducting hot  water ; the  larger  were  designed  for  the  use  of  the  family  of  the 
monarch  himself.  ...  In  the  pass  between  Alausi  and  Loxa,  called  the  Paramo 
del  Assuay,  as  we  were  leading  our  heavily-laden  mules  with  great  difficulty 
through  the  marshy  ground  on  the  elevated  Plain  del  Pullal,  our  eyes  mean- 
while were  continually  dwelling  on  the  grand  remains  of  the  Inca’s  road,  which 
with  a breadth  of  twenty-one  English  feet  ran  by  our  side  for  above  a German 
mile.  It  had  a deep  understructure,  and  was  paved  with  well-cut  blocks  of 
blackish  trap-porphyry.  Nothing  that  I had  seen  of  the  remains  of  Roman 
roads  in  Italy,  in  the  south  of  France  and  in  Spain,  was  more  imposing  than 
these  works  of  the  ancient  Peruvians,  which  are,  moreover,  situated,  according 
to  my  barometric  measurements,  at  an  elevation  of  12,440  (13,258  English)  feet 
above  the  sea,  or  more  than  a thousand  feet  higher  than  the  peak  of  Teneriffe. 
. . . There  are  two  great  artificial  Peruvian  paved  roads,  or  system  of  roads, 
covered  with  flat  stones  or  sometimes  even  with  cemented  gravel  (macadamized) ; 
one  passes  through  the  wide  and  arid  plain  between  the  Pacific  ocean  and  the 
chain  of  the  Andes,  and  the  other  over  the  ridges  of  the  Cordilleras.  Mile- 
stones, or  stones  marking  the  distances,  are  often  found  placed  at  equal  intervals. 
The  road  was  conducted  across  rivers  and  deep  ravines  by  three  kinds  of  bridges 
— stone,  wood  and  rope  bridges  (Puentes  de  Hamaca,  or  de  Maroma),  and  there 
were  also  aqueducts  or  arrangements  for  bringing  water  to  the  tambos  (hostelries 


460 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  metals,  in  the  cutting  of  gems  and  in  the  weaving  of 
fine  tissues,  carry  us  back  to  Eastern  Asia.  The  ex- 
tended canals  for  the  irrigation  of  large  districts  of 
country,  often  carried  along  mountain  ranges  or  piercing 
them  by  stone-paved  aqueducts ; the  postal  arrange- 
ments for  the  use  of  the  court ; the  military  organization 
of  able-bodied  men  by  decimal  numbers;  the  solemn 
ceremonial  of  the  Inca  going  forth  in  the  spring  and  in- 
augurating the  general  agricultural  labors  of  the  year 
by  ploughing  with  a golden  plough ; — where  but  to  the 
same  far-off  source  shall  we  look  for  the  origin  of  such 
•works  or  usages  ? And  in  Peru  we  find  Buddhism  in 
all  its  characteristics — the  twofold  principle  in  nature, 
the  transmigration  of  souls,  the  perpetual  celibacy  of 

or  caravanserais)  and  to  the  fortresses.  Both  systems  of  roads  were  directed  to 
the  central  point,  Cuzco,  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the  great  empire,  in  13° 
31'  south  latitude,  and  which  is  placed,  according  to  Pentland’s  map  of  Bolivia, 
10,676  Paris,  or  11,378  English,  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  As  the  Peru- 
vians employed  no  wheel  carriages,  and  the  roads  were  consequently  only  de- 
signed for  the  march  of  troops,  for  men  carrying  burdens  and  for  lightly-laden 
lamas,  we  find  them  occasionally  interrupted,  on  account  of  the  steepness  of  the 
mountains,  by  long  flights  of  steps,  provided  with  resting-places  at  suitable 
intervals. 

“Sormiento,  who  saw  the  roads  of  the  Incas  whilst  they  were  still  in  a perfect 
state  of  preservation,  asks,  in  a Kelacion  which  long  lay  unread,  buried  in  the 
library  of  the  Escurial,  ‘ How  a nation  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  iron  could 
have  completed  such  grand  works  in  so  high  and  rocky  a region  (caminos  tan 
grandes  y tan  sovervios),  extending  from  Cuzco  to  Quito  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  the  coast  of  Chili  on  the  other  ? The  Emperor  Charles,’  he  adds,  ‘ with 
all  his  power,  could  not  accomplish  even  a part  of  what  the  well-ordered  gov- 
ernment of  the  Incas  effected  through  the  obedient  people  over  whom  they 
ruled.’  Hernando  Pizarro  exclaims, ‘In  the  whole  of  Christendom  there  are 
nowhere  such  fine  roads  as  those  which  we  here  admire  1’  The  two  important 
capitals  and  seats  ef  government  of  the  Incas — Cuzco  and  Quito — are  one  thou- 
sand English  geographical  miles  apart  in  a straight  line  (S.  S.  E.,  N.  N.  W.), 
without  reckoning  the  many  windings  of  the  way ; and  including  the  windings, 
the  distance  is  estimated  by  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  and  other  Conquistadores  at 
‘five  hundred  leagues.’  ” — A.  Von  Humboldt,  Aspects  of  Nature,  pp.  415-418. 


ANCIENT  CONNECTIONS  WITH  THIS  CONTINENT.  461 


both  monks  and  nuns,  the  fasts,  the  penances,  the  clois- 
ters and  convents,  the  sacrifices,  the  processions,  the 
schools  for  youth  and  novices,  the  burial  with  the  face 
toward  the  west.  The  imprint  is  so  distinct  that  Rivero 
and  Yon  Tschudi  plainly  infer  that  “ Quetzalcoatl, 
Bochica,  Manco  Capac,  and  other  reformers  of  Central 
America  (including  Mexico  and  Peru),  were  Buddhist 
priests,  who,  by  means  of  their  superior  learning  and 
civilization,  sought  to  rule  the  minds  of  the  natives,  and 
to  elevate  themselves  to  political  supremacy.” 1 

It  is  pleasant  to  review  the  several  branches  of  evi- 
dence, which  I have  stated  in  its  most  condensed  form, 
that  to  Eastern  Asia  we  are  to  look  for  the  great  foun- 
tain whence  flowed  the  ancient  races  whose  architectural 
remains  on  this  continent  are  so  wonderful,  whose  history 
is  so  full  of  romantic  interest,  and  whose  mission  it  was 
to  occupy  the  New  World  until  the  appointed  time  when 
from  Europe  the  Protestant  Christian  nations  should  be 
brought  to  prepare  a mould  which  should  be  the  final 
ideal  of  just  and  beneficent  government,  into  which 
should  be  cast  first  the  forms  of  European  nations  and 
finally  those  of  their  own  offspring  in  Asia. 

And  poor  Mexico ! Happy  will  be  the  day  when  the 
intelligent  industry  of  the  Chinese  shall  restore  the  Ori- 
ental fertility  and  beauty  and  wealth  of  the  land  of  the 
Aztecs.  A generation  or  two  more,  and  they  will  begin 
to  find  their  way  to  its  rich  mines  and  tropical  valleys. 
It  will  bo  strange  indeed  if  it  be  to  become  servants  to 
those  who  have  fallen  so  much  from  the  manly  vigor 
of  the  men  who  conquered  the  country  three  hundred 
years  ago! 

1 Peruvian  Antiquities  (translated  by  F.  L.  Hawks),  p.  17. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

T\URING  fifty-five  centuries,  at  least,  it  pleased  the 
Creator  of  the  world  to  confine  its  population,  its 
history,  its  good  and  its  evil,  chiefly  to  one  of  its  hemi- 
spheres. Three  centuries  ago  the  other  hemisphere, 
which  had  been  visited  by  but  a few  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  one  opposite,  and  had  been  kept  in  the  shadow 
until  the  hour  for  the  sun  of  an  unending  day  to  rise 
upon  it,  was  suddenly  revealed.  Its  mountain  tops  be- 
gan then  to  receive  the  light  which  had  so  long  shone 
upon  the  Old  World.  Now  that  light  has  descended  to 
every  plain  and  valley.  And  the  atmosphere  is  purer 
here,  and  the  light  shines  brighter  here  than  it  did 
through  any  of  the  clouded  skies  of  that  other  side. 

God  had  a meaning  in  this  great  plan  of  human  his- 
tory. All  the  nations  of  Europe  hastened  to  secure  each 
a possession  in  this  New  World.  But  they  have  been 
all  dispossessed  save  one.  The  Protestant  Anglo-Saxon 
race  now  occupies  all  that  is  valuable  of  North  America, 
and  moulds  the  destinies  of  the  rest  of  the  continent  and 
of  South  America. 

Three  centuries  and  a half  ago  the  African  was 
brought  here.  He  was  taught  agriculture,  the  uses  of 
clothing,  of  various  valuable  arts  and  of  letters,  and  the 

462 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


463 


knowledge  of  one  great  God,  who  stretched  out  the 
heavens,  who  “ formed  the  earth  and  made  it,  and  he 
created  if  not  in  vain ; he  formed  it  to  be  inhabited.” 

t 

The  task  of  his  tuition  has  been  accomplished.  A door 
has  been  opened  for  his  return. 

The  Asiatic  comes — a very  different  pupil.  Rich, 
acute,  polished,  dextrous  in  many  arts,  what  he  asks  is 
chiefly  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  life,  eternal  life. 
Shall  we  impart  to  him  of  the  fruits  of  the  vineyard 
which  we  are  enjoying,  or  shall  we  entreat  him  shame- 
fully and  send  him  away  empty  ? 

The  commencement  of  the  emigration  of  the  Chi- 
nese to  this  country  is  so  important  as  an  era  in  the 
history  of  both  hemispheres  that  we  may  well  devote  a 
chapter  to  considering  its  nature  and  circumstances. 

That  any  of  that  nation  should  leave  their  own 
country  and  come  to  one  so  remote  from  it  strikes  many 
persons  with  surprise.  But  this  is  only  because  their 
information  or  reflections  have  been  bounded  so  much 
by  the  circle  of  the  interests  of  their  own  and  kindred 
races.  The  Chinese  are  an  enterprising  people.  At  a 
remote  period  they  were  somewhat  acquainted  with 
Western  lands.  Some  notice  has  been  taken  in  an- 
other part  of  this  volume  of  the  very  ancient  intercourse 
between  China  and  the  nations  of  Central  and  Western 
Asia,  of  that  later  with  Rome  in  the  days  of  her  pride, 
and  of  that  with  India  and  Arabia  in  the  earlier  ages  of 
the  Christian  era.  Mutual  commercial  connections  then 
existed ; caravans  passed  and  repassed ; imperial  em- 
bassies went  and  came ; religious  pilgrimages  were  made 
far  into  the  West,  and  some  seem  to  have  gone  eastward 
in  return,  men  groping  over  the  face  of  the  world  for 


464 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


some  favored  spot  where  they  hoped  that  the  veil  which 
covers  the  throne  of  mercy  might  be  more  transparent, 
and  where  they  imagined  the  sounds  of  the  invisible 
world  might  be  more  intelligible.  And  some  of  the 
great  invasions  of  barbarians,  those  of  the  Huns,  the 
Mongols,  the  Turks  and  other  tribes,  which  destroyed 
the  pagan  empire  of  Home  or  scourged  the  nations  which 
relapsed  into  its  idolatries,  were  simply  great  emigra- 
tions of  Chinese  nomads,  who,  held  at  bay  by  the  power 
which  had  built  the  Great  Wall,  opened  for  themselves 
a path  of  advance  by  conquest  into  the  heart  of  Europe, 
and  to  the  shores  of  the  North  sea.  There  is  then  no 
reason  in  the  history  of  ages  past  for  supposing  that 
motives  may  not  be  presented  which  will  attract  the 
merchant,  the  herdsman,  the  religious  pilgrim  or  the 
ambassador  from  China  or  the  adjacent  countries  to 
make  a temporary,  or  in  the  end  permanent,  home  in  a 
country  which  our  own  commerce  has  made  so  accessible 
to  them. 

And  in  the  present  age  great  numbers  of  the  Chinese 
have  gone  abroad  to  traffic,  labor,  work  in  mines,  or 
as  devotees  or  to  see  the  world.  There  are  millions  of 
Chinese  emigrants  in  all  the  countries  north  and  west  of 
the  empire,  even  as  far  west  as  India,  in  the  streets  of 
whose  capital  Chinese  workmen  manufacture  excellent 
shoes,  which  are  distributed  over  the  country  for  the  use 
of  European  residents,  and  among  whose  hills  Chinese 
agriculturists  are  raising  tea  which  is  adding  a new  item 
to  the  revenues  of  the  British  crown. 

A favorite  field  for  Chinese  emigration  during  many 
centuries  past  has  been  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago. To  many  of  these  their  labor  and  their  com- 


CHINESE  IM MI  ORA  TI ON. 


465 


merce  has  been  a boon  beyond  price.  They  have  built 
and  manned  vessels  of  the  wood  cut  from  the  native 
forests,  created  valuable  departments  of  trade,  turned 
wild  jungles  into  cultivated  gardens,  and  opened  mines 
of  gold,  silver,  tin,  diamonds,  and  other  metals  and  pre- 
cious stones.  They  have  proved  beyond  all  other  races 
the  most  intelligent  and  energetic  associates  of  the  Eu- 
ropean in  the  development  of  the  boundless  mineral  and 
commercial  wealth  which  the  Creator  has  so  prodigally 
lavished  on  those  islands.  In  China  and  in  the  In.dian 
Archipelago  I have  observed  with  great  interest  the 
benefits  of  this  commerce. 

The  narratives  of  disinterested  travelers  among  those 
islands  are  interspersed  with  pictures  of  the  pleasing  re- 
sults of  Chinese  labor  there.  The  following  specimen 
is  from  the  pen  of  an  intelligent  English  gentleman. 
The  scene  is  among  the  mountains  of  Borneo. 

“After  crossing  the  swamps  we  ascended  a hill,  and 
on  arriving  at  the  top,  a sudden  turn  of  the  path  brought 
to  view  one  of  the  finest  prospects  I had  ever  beheld. 
Immediately  below  us  stretched  an  extensive  valley 
teeming  with  cultivation  and  covered  with  villages  and 
cottages ; the  Sinkawan  river,  here  about  fifteen  yards 
wide,  winding  through  it.  The  south-east  side  of  the 
valley  was  bounded  by  a range  of  mountains  about  fif- 
teen hundred  feet  in  elevation ; but  to  the  north-west 
the  ground  stretched  in  gentle  undulations  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach. 

“ Our  path  led  through  a series  of  gardens,  which,  in 
addition  to  many  kinds  of  culinary  vegetables,  produced 
sugar-cane,  maize,  plantains  and  a variety  of  fruits. 
After  a delightful  walk  through  the  valley  for  about 

30 


466 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


three  miles,  crossing  the  river  several  times  by  means  of 
■wooden  bridges,  we  arrived  at  the  large  village  where 
we  were  to  breakfast.  The  street  was  crowded  with  peo- 
ple, who  left  a small  space  in  the  centre  for  us  to  pass 
on  to  the  court-house,  where  I found  the  kung-sze  had 
prepared  an  excellent  repast,  having  been  informed  of 
my  intended  visit  by  a messenger,  who  had  been  sent  to 
Montradok  from  the  coast  the  previous  night. 

“ After  leaving  this  place,  we  continued  our  route  in 
a north-east  direction.  A few  miles  beyond  the  village 
we  crossed  several  trenches  about  three  feet  wide  and 
from  three  to  fifteen  feet  deep,  which  I discovered  to  be 
exhausted  gold  mines.  The  soil  in  which  the  trenches 
were  dug  was  of  a clayey  nature  and  rather  poor,  but 
not  so  much  so  as  to  render  its  cultivation  unprofitable, 
for  the  rice-fields  in  the  neighborhood  appeared  to  be  in 
a very  flourishing  condition.  "We  continued  to  cross 
these  trenches  for  about  six  miles,  the  distance  between 
them  being  from  twenty  yards  to  half  a mile,  and  then 
struck  to  the  south-east  over  several  ranges  of  small 
hills,  the  valleys  between  them  being  generally  cultivated. 

“ Many  of  the  farmers’  cottages  were  built  of  unburnt 
brick  and  covered  with  thatch,  and  being  invariably 
surrounded  and  shaded  by  fruit  trees,  they  bore  a 
stronger  resemblance  to  those  which  adorn  an  English 
landscape  than  any  habitations  I had  seen  since  my  de- 
parture from  my  own  home.  Houses  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  travelers  were  erected  at  intervals  on  the 
roadside,  and  at  noon  we  entered  one  of  them  to  rest 
ourselves  and  to  partake  of  some  refreshment.” 1 

The  position  of  the  Chinese  in  Borneo  is  thus  de- 

1 Geo.  Windsor  Earl,  The  Eastern  Seas,  pp.  2S0-2S2. 


CHINESE  IMMIGRA  TI ON. 


467 


scribed  by  a sprightly  German  lady  who  visited  the  is- 
land in  the  course  of  a journey  round  the  world: 

“ The  Chinese  play  in  Borneo  very  much  the  part  of 
the  Jews  in  Poland  and  Hungary.  All  trades  and  me- 
chanical arts  are  in  their  hands ; they  farm  or  work  the 
mines,  and  also  cultivate  the  land  with  incomparably 
more  care  than  either  Dyaks  or  Malays.  Their  food, 
as  might  be  expected,  is  much  better.  They  keep,  as  I 
have  said,  both  pigs  and  poultry,  and  they  raise  vege- 
tables and  fruit. 

“In  general,  the  Chinese  may  be  regarded  as  the 
citizens  of  the  country,  the  Malays  as  the  peasants  and 
the  dependant  Dyaks  as  the  slaves.” 

The  Americans  who  judge  of  the  habits  of  the  Chi- 
nese from  what  they  witness  in  the  crowded  and  filthy 
shops  of  San  Francisco  may  obtain  a more  just  conception 
of  their  disposition  when  allowed  scope  to  exercise  it, 
from  the  following  sketch  by  the  same  writer  of  a 
Chinese  residence  in  Java : 

“ In  the  evening  we  paid  a visit  to  the  Chinese  campan, 
which,  with  its  pretty  houses  and  remarkable  cleanliness, 
forms  a favorable  contrast  to  that  of  the  Malays.  The 
houses  are  built  of  brick,  but  are  as  neat  and  white  as  if 
the  whole  campan  had  been  that  moment  finished.  They 
are  not  large,  but  are  enough  so  to  lodge  even  a numer- 
ous family  with  convenience.  Neither  windows  nor  doors 
are  wanting — the  former  provided  with  handsome  bal- 
conies, and  all  the  wood  and  frame-work  painted  in  dark 
oil  colors.  The  front  of  the  house  is  encircled  by  a 
verandah,  from  which  you  enter  a reception-room,  which 
takes  up  the  whole  length  of  the  house,  and  where  you 
find  the  ground  covered  with  matting  and  the  walls  with 


468 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


looking-glasses  and  pictures,  and  a sufficient  number  of 
tables,  chairs  and  presses.  In  the  background  are  doors 
leading  into  the  ordinary  sitting-room,  and  almost  in 
every  house  there  is  a small  altar  in  the  state  apartment. 

“As  we  entered  several  of  the  houses  we  found  the 
inhabitants  seated  at  supper.  The  wives  of  the  Chinese, 
like  those  of  the  Malays,  are  excluded  from  their  com- 
pany at  meals,  and  dine  and  sup  in  the  kitchen  or  in  their 
own  little  chambers.  The  table  was  covered  with  a white 
cloth ; there  were  plates,  glasses  and  bottles  upon  it,  as 
well  as  good  food.  One  could  have  joined  them  in  the 
meal  with  pleasure ; while  when  the  Malays  eat  they  are 
disgusting  to  look  at,  crouching  on  the  ground  wherever 
they  may  happen  to  be,  and  cramming  handfuls  of  rice 
into  their  wide-open  jaws. 

“ The  Chinese  in  the  towns  are  merchants  or  artizans ; 
they  are  unwearied  in  their  industry,  but  not  unwilling 
to  allow  themselves  some  domestic  conveniences  and 
comforts.”  1 

Other  testimonials  to  the  industry,  thrift  and  useful- 
ness of  the  Chinese  from  recent  visitors  to  the  islands  of 
this  great  archipelago  might  here  be  presented  if  ne- 
cessary, but  these  are  sufficient  to  show  their  character.2 

It  is  true  that  the  laws  of  China  have  forbidden  emi- 
gration to  foreign  countries,  just  as  its  government  has 
endeavored  to  exclude  the  commerce  of  those  countries 
from  its  seaports,  or  to  keep  it  confined  in  fetters  at  one 
of  them.  The  present  imperial  dynasty  has  been  averse 
to  permitting  other  nations  to  enjoy  free  intercourse  with 

1 Ida.  Pfeiffer,  Second  Journey  Round  the  World,  pp.  109,  279,  280. 

3 The  recent  volume  of  Prof.  Bickmore  contains  some  useful  facts  and 
statistics  relating  to  tlxe  Chinese  in  the  islands  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Dutch. 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


469 


its  subjects,  perhaps  for  the  same  reasons  which  it  has 
had  for  not  allowing  its  subjects  liberty  to  visit  lands 
where  they  might  imbibe  sentiments  that  would  make 
them  troublesome  at  home.  This  is  a policy  quite  nat- 
ural in  a small  tribe  of  bold  semi-barbarians  suddenly 
lifted  to  the  control  of  an  empire  so  great,  the  intelli- 
gence and  enterprise  of  whose  population  has  made  their 
own  position  constantly  precarious.  The  Manclius  were 
too  shrewd  not  to  be  made  wary  also  by  their  experience 
of  the  superior  abilities  of  the  people  of  the  West,  and 
their  acquaintance  with  the  arts  of  a higher  civilization 
and  more  effective  warfare;  especially  by  what  they 
early  obtained  from  their  acquaintance  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  cast  cannon  for  them  and 
conveyed  to  them  many  presents  of  a kind  suited  to 
show  the  superiority  of  Europe  in  those  respects.  The 
intrigues  of  those  same  men  showed  them  also  how  dan- 
gerous would  be  the  encouragement  of  an  increase  in 
their  numbers ; they  were  even  compelled  to  expel  the 
Europeans,  useful  as  they  were  to  them.  The  convenient 
concentration  of  the  foreign  commerce  in  the  hands  of 
the  wealthy  company  at  the  port  of  Canton,  called  the 
Hong  merchants,  added  large  sums  to  the  imperial  treas- 
ury. Thus  it  has  seemed  in  several  important  respects 
to  the  interest  of  the  government  to  put  a barrier  round 
the  avenues  of  entrance  and  egress,  and  almost  to  cut 
off  the  communication  of  the  nation  with  others.  And 
this  jealous  and  despotic  policy,  sad  to  say,  has  been 
justified  to  the  nation  itself  by  the  selfish  and  inhuman 
behavior  of  Europeans  who  visited  its  ports ; by  the 
piracies,  the  wars,  the  forcible  introduction  of  the  opium 
poison,  and  other  gigantic  crimes  against  humanity  and 


470 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


offences  against  the  sense  of  right  that  belongs  to  the 
heathen  as  well  as  the  Christian  breast.  Outside  of  the 
range  of  these  causes,  we  are  not  justified  in  the  assertion 
that  a spirit  of  national  exclusiveness  exists.  Certainly, 
with  the  same  provocations  we  would  have  hurled  a race 
of  intruders  from  our  shores  with  more  of  resentment 
than  the  Chinese  have  manifested  toward  us. 

The  commencement  of  the  immigration  of  the  Chinese 
to  California  was  one  of  the  events  which  made  the  year 
1848  so  memorable  in  modern  history.  In  the  same 
year  in  which  so  many  of  the  thrones  of  Europe  were 
abased  and  liberal  constitutions  given  to  the  people,  the 
thrill  of  a new  life  was  communicated  to  the  nations 
around  the  Pacific  ocean  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California.  No  magnet  less  powerful  than  reputed 
mountains  of  this  precious  metal  would  have  so  thor- 
oughly excited  them.  The  stream  from  China  began  to 
set  in  when  the  tidings  were  borne  across  the  Pacific  by 
our  merchant  vessels.  At  once  the  Americans,  English, 
French  and  other  foreigners  hastened  to  prepare  in  the 
Chinese  ports  cargoes  of  such  merchandise  as  would  be 
suited  to  the  wants  of  the  new  country  so  suddenly  filled 
with  people.  Clothing,  articles  of  food,  even  houses  con- 
structed in  parts  which  could  be  easily  put  together,  were 
hurriedly  collected  and  sent  over.  The  Chinese  were 
equal  to  the  occasion.  The  most  remarkable  monument 
of  their  capacity  is  a large  and  handsome  pair  of  stone 
buildings,  under  one  roof,  three  stories  in  height,  which 
have  been  generally  occupied  by  banks  or  express-offices, 
uj3on  Montgomery,  the  principal  business  street  of  San 
Francisco.  This  pair  of  buildings  is  composed  of  gran- 
ite, in  our  style  of  architecture,  of  which  every  stone  was 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


471 


cut,  fitted  and  laid  in  its  place  without  mortar  in  the 
province  of  Canton;  the  whole  was  then  taken  down, 
shipped  with  the  men  who  were  to  erect  it  on  this  side 
of  the  ocean  and  erected  in  1852,  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  the  gentleman  who  contracted  for  it.  The  cost 
of  these  buildings  was  a hundred  and  seventeen  thousand 
dollars ; they  were  at  once  rented  for  the  sum  of  thirty- 
six  thousand  dollars  a year. 

Chinese  of  all  classes  and  occupations  were  infected 
with  the  same  “ fever”  which  spread  over  our  own  At- 
lantic States.  And  those  who  remember  the  strange 
compound  of  the  refined  and  the  base,  the  good  and  the 
bad,  the  men  of  all  professions  and  employments,  who 
were  cast  together  into  the  mines  of  California,  will  un- 
derstand how  the  same  variety  existed  among  those  who 
were  drawn  by  the  same  motives  and  in  the  same  haste 
from  the  opposite  shore  of  the  Pacific  ocean. 

The  sudden  commixture  of  races  like  ours  and  the 
Chinese,  which  had  never  before  been  freely  brought 
face  to  face  on  equal  terms,  at  first  excited  among  our 
people  a warm  interest  in  them.  The  Chinese  were 
kindly  treated,  publicly  welcomed,  and  the  imaginations 
of  men  looked  forward  to  the  commercial  advantages 
which  this  practical  contact  of  the  West  and  the  East 
seemed  to  promise  to  our  nation. 

But  when  it  was  found  that  the  industrious  Chinese 
miners  to  some  extent  interfered  with  the  whites,  that 
they  willingly  continued  to  work  while  others  were  idle, 
that  they  could  be  hired  for  less  wages  than  our  miners 
chose  to  accept,  that  they  did  not  learn  our  language 
readily  or  mingle  freely  with  our  people,  or  join  in  our 
amusements,  which  often  were  barbarous  enough,  then 


472 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  public  sentiment  began  to  turn  against  them.  Their 
very  common-sense  arrangements  for  lodging  and  other 
conveniences,  in  their  “ companies,”  became  a ground  of 
alarm,  and  the  superintendents  and  clerks  whom  they 
elected  to  attend  to  the  club  or  company-houses  which 
they  built  were  imagined  to  be  rich  capitalists  who  had 
imported  the  members  of  the  company  and  were  using 
them  as  their  slaves. 

The  Chinese  who  have  thus  far  emigrated  to  California 
are  almost  exclusively  from  the  province  of  Canton  in 
the  South,  a region  whose  people  have  been  more  ready 
to  venture  to  a country  inhabited  by  a European  race 
since  it  has  been  there  that  European  trade  has  centered 
for  the  past  three  centuries.  Canton  is  a rich  land  fertile 
province.  It  is  usually  estimated  to  cover  about  eighty 
thousand  square  miles,  and  to  contain  a population  of  a 
little  over  twenty-seven  millions  of  people — that  is,  three 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  to  the  square  mile.  It  may 
be  said  to  be  the  Italy  of  the  empire,  being  the  most 
southern  province  and  the  mildest  in  its  climate. 
Though  but  four-fifths  the  size  of  Italy,  it  has  more 
people.  It  contains  fifteen  departments,  which  are  sub- 
divided into  ninety-one  districts.  The  most  populous 
department  is  that  of  Kwang-chau,  in  which  is  the  city 
of  Canton,  the  capital  of  the  province  and  the  great  seat 
of  foreign  trade.  This  department  embraces  fifteen  dis- 
tricts. It  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  long 
and  about  as  broad,  if  a long,  irregular  projection  into 
the  sea  be  considered.  It  lies  around  a fine  bay, 
studded  with  high  islands,  and  the  mouths  of  three 
large  rivers  come  together  near  the  city.  The  alluvial 
districts  in  the  region  of  the  city  of  Canton  are  the 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


473 


most  populous.  Towns  embowered  in  bamboo,  a species 
of  banyan  and  other  trees  meet  the  eye  on  every  hand. 
The  level  portion  of  the  soil  is  cultivated  as  only  the  Chi- 
nese know  how  to  do  in  order  to  obtain  the  utmost  possi- 
ble returns  from  Nature.  The  view  appears  like  a great 
garden  bounded  by  ranges  of  hills.  The  narrow  streets 
of  the  towns  are  densely  crowded  with  men  following 
every  trade  and  means  of  procuring  a subsistence  which 
the  necessities  of  human  nature  can  suggest.  The  wa- 
ters swarm  with  vessels  and  boats  devoted  to  a far  greater 
variety  of  uses  than  vessels  upon  the  water  are  applied 
to  among  the  nations  of  the  West.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  the  people  of  the  province  live  wholly  mpon  the 
rivers  and  sea.  In  the  front  of  Canton  the  scene  upon 
the  water  presents  as  great  a variety  of  employments 
and  structures  as  that  upon  the  land.  It  is  from  these 
towns  and  hamlets  that  the  Chinese  in  California  have 
come,  and  the  women  here  are  chiefly  from  this  popula- 
tion upon  the  water,  which  is  considered  to  be  of  an  in- 
ferior race  and  more  vicious  than  that  on  shore.  These 
women  are  purchased  from  their  parents  or  owners  and 
brought  to  this  country  mainly  that  they  may  be  devoted 
to  licentious  and  wretched  lives. 

The  word  “coolie”  is  wholly  inappropriate  to  the 
Chinese  immigrating  to  this  country,  as  much  so  as  it 
would  be  to  apply  it  to  the  mixed  population  of  our 
own  race  which  may  be  found  laboring  in  the  mining 
regions. 

The  origin  of  the  word  is  to  be  found  in  India.1  And 

1 It  is  properly  from  the  Hindustani.  Quli,  or  kuli,  signifies  simply  a porter 
or  bearer  of  burdens.  There  are  several  subdivisions  of  the  quli  caste,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  burdens  they  bear. 


474 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  mistaken  ideas  which  have  arisen  on  this  subject 
have  come  from  confounding  the  Chinese  people  and 
customs  with  those  of  India,  where  the  entire  social  sys- 
tem is  widely  different.  The  English  writers  familiar 
with  Indian  usages,  and  viewing  all  the  nations  of  the 
East  through  the  medium  of  the  press  in  their  great 
colonial  presidencies  of  Bengal,  Bombay  and  Madras, 
have  originated  in  Great  Britain  and  America  gross 
mistakes  in  regard  to  the  other  countries  of  whose  trade 
the  East  India  Company  held  also  a long  monopoly. 
The  British  traders  in  Canton  attached  Indian  appella- 
tions to  many  articles  of  solely  Chinese  produce  or  use. 
Of  all  the  names  of  weights,  measures,  coins  and  officers, 
scarcely  one  is  properly  a Chinese  word.  Indeed,  the 
difficulty  of  pronouncing  intelligibly  the  native  sounds 
has  led  to  the  gradual  formation  at  Canton  of  a jargon 
the  words  and  grammar  of  which  are  the  most  novel 
and  ludicrous.  The  Hindustani  word  “ coolie  ” is  one 
of  those  thus  inflicted  upon  the  Chinese,  who  have  no 
caste  among  them,  and  no  class  whom  it  exactly  repre- 
sents. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  the  Chinese 
received  their  Buddhist  religion  from  India  therefore 
they  adopted  the  system  of  caste.  Much  as  it  is  inter- 
woven with  the  customs  of  India,  the  Chinese  mind, 
which  is  so  practical  and  reasonable,  has  revolted  against 
it.  And  this  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  convincing  illus- 
trations of  the  superiority  of  the  Chinese  race  to  that 
which  inhabits  India.  The  system  of  “caste”  prevalent 
in  the  latter  country  is  familiar  to  all.  It  is  known  that 
there  exist  there  four  distinct  and  fixed  divisions  of 
society.  We  designate  them  by  the  word  which  the  first 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


475 


Portuguese  and  Spanish  navigators  applied  to  them  from 
their  own  language — casta,  “a  race  or  lineage.”  The 
native  Sanscrit  name  for  them  is  varras,  “ colors.”  Of 
these  castes  the  Hindus  say  that  the  highest,  the  Brah- 
mins, came  originally  from  the  head  of  the  supreme 
creator,  Brahm.  They  form  the  chief  of  all  the  castes, 
and  are  the  authoritative  expounders  of  the  sacred 
books.  The  Vishya,  or  Bias,  sprang  from  his  body,  con- 
stituting the  chief  supporters  of  the  body  politic,  the 
agriculturists  and  capitalists.  From  his  arms  issued  the 
defenders  of  the  state,  the  Kshatriya,  or  military  caste. 
The  Sudras,  or  laborers,  sprang  from  his  feet.  They  are 
the  most  degraded  of  all,  performing  only  servile  duties. 
They  are  employed  in  tilling  the  soil  and  in  menial 
occupations.  The  Yedas,  or  sacred  books,  are  closed 
against  their  perusal.  Thus  caste  is  regarded  as  a divine 
and  sacred  ordinance,  and  the  Hindus  consider  the  na- 
ture of  the  people  of  the  different  employments  to  be 
entirely  dissimilar,  so  that  it  would  be  as  impossible 
for  a man  belonging  to  one  of  the  lower  castes  to  be 
transformed  into  a higher  caste,  or  perform  the  offices 
of  it,  as  it  would  be  to  change  a dog  into  a horse  or  a 
tiger  into  an  elephant.  Under  these  four  great  divisions 
there  is  a multitude  of  inferior  distinctions  of  caste,  each 
like  a band  of  iron  round  its  members,  so  that  a man 
can  scarce  perform  a solitary  act — can  neither  eat, 
drink,  be  born,  nor  die — but  he  is  made  to  feel  its 
power.  It  is  the  most  complicated,  burdensome  and 
despotic  superstition  with  which  the  human  race  has 
been  cursed.  A man  who  breaks  his  caste  becomes  an 
outcast,  is  abandoned  by  his  relations  and  friends  and 
so  wanders  about  till  death.  The  fear  of  losing  it,  or 


476 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE ' 


being  exposed  for  acts  which  would  hazard  this,  often 
causes  the  most  shocking  murders,  and  infanticide  and 
other  crimes. 

It  should  he  kept  very  clearly  before  the  minds  of  our 
people,  by  all  who  are  interested  in  the  Chinese  at  home 
or  in  our  country,  that  with  this  diabolical  system  that 
nation  has  no  sympathy  whatsoever.  In  the  social  sys- 
tem of  China  there  is  no  such  thing  as  caste.  The 
less  imaginative,  calculating  Chinese  adopts  Buddhism 
because  it  is  all  around  him,  the  religion  of  every  land 
with  which  his  is  contiguous,  just  as  the  furniture  is 
tinged  green  in  the  room  whose  windows  are  curtained 
with  green  ; but  many  of  its  characteristics  are  repulsive 
to  his  spirit.  Buddhism  is  positive,  systematized  and 
minatory  ; his  cherished  patriarchal  traditions  are 
neither.  He  rejects  the  odious  perceptive  portions  of 
the  Hindu  creed.  He  offers  no  human  sacrifices ; he 
burns  no  widows ; he  sanctifies  no  abominable  licen- 
tiousness, as  a part  of  temple  worship ; he  perplexes 
himself  with  no  frequent  or  minute  ritual ; he  eats, 
drinks  and  is  merry ; nor  is  he  at  all  sensible  of  such 
sin  before  Heaven  as  to  require  the  painful  mortifica- 
tions and  grievous  burdens  so  eagerly  borne  by  the 
Hindu.  The  whole  apparatus  of  caste  the  Chinese  flings 
away  as  something  uncomfortable  and  unnecessary.  And 
so  the  social  and  political  system  which  is  built  upon  this 
pantheistic  base.  There  are  no  fixed  divisions  in  the 
body  politic ; no  employments  necessarily  hereditary ; 
no  essential  differences  of  nature ; no  permanence  of 
rank ; few  offices  beyond  the  reach  of  the  humblest 
individuals  gifted  with  talent  and  energy.  And,  strange 
as  the  declaration  may  appear  to  many  who  have  formed 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


477 


tlieir  ideas  from  the  writings  of  men  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  the  real  character  of  the  Chinese  and 
their  institutions,  or  of  some  who  have  only  repeated  the 
perverse  or  unfounded  assertions  of  calumniators,  it  is 
yet  true  that  few  nations  maintain  opinions  or  practices 
on  many  points  in  politics  which  are  more  democratic 
than  theirs. 

There  is  not  a solitary  “ coolie”  in  California  in  the 
Hindu  sense  of  the  word.  The  laboring  classes  of 
China  in  the  employment  of  foreigners  have  been 
sometimes  styled  “coolies.”  If  justly,  then  a porter 
or  laborer  of  any  nation  similarly  employed  is  a 
“ coolie ;”  for  there  is  no  more  essential  degradation  in 
their  case  than  in  that  of  others.  If  it  be  said  that 
European  or  American  laborers  often  acquire  wealth 
and  assume  a more  elevated  station  in  society  ; so,  it  may 
be  replied,  does  the  Chinese  “ coolie”  about  the  factories 
I at  Canton  or  Shanghai.  The  bearer  of  the  sedan-chair 
or  the  porter  of  the  tea  or  silk  warehouse  belongs  to  a 
class  subject  to  no  cincture  of  contempt — one  from  which 
some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  merchants 
have  sprung,  and  embracing  occupations  sometimes  ac- 
cepted in  turn  by  their  sons  for  the  sake  of  learning  the 
language  and  customs  of  foreigners  who  trade  there. 
The  “ coolie”  becomes  the  comprador,  or  butler,  who  is 
entrusted  with  the  care  of  the  money  and  other  property 
of  the  foreign  merchant,  and  in  time  accumulates  a 
fortune  which  enables  him  to  purchase  some  high  and 
honorable  position  under  the  government.  Then,  as  it 
would  be  justly  held  to  be  degrading  to  style  a laborer 
of  our  own  race  in  any  country,  whatsoever  his  particular 
occupation,  a “ coolie,”  so  it  is  not  right  to  attach  to  the 


478 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chinese  the  odium  of  a social  debasement  which  is  pe- 
culiar to  another  country,  to  other  institutions,  and  to 
another  and  most  dissimilar  race  of  people.  The  word 
is  one  which  ought  to  be  wholly  dropped  when  speak- 
ing of  the  Chinese.  It  represents  a class,  a caste  and 
a man,  in  its  proper  sense  and  original  use,  for  which 
there  is  no  equivalent  in  their  own  empire  or  among 
the  Chinese  in  California,  Peru,  the  West  Indies  or  any 
other  land. 

The  means  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  voyage  are  ob- 
tained by  Chinese  emigrants  to  California  in  the  same 
way  in  which  they  are  by  our  own  people  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances. One  sells  out  his  little  shop.  Another 
leaves  the  farm  on  which  he  was  born,  and  where  his 
father  lived  before  him,  in  the  hope  of  bringing  back 
money  enough  to  pay  off  some  troublesome  debts,  or  to 
enable  him  to  add  a few  acres  to  it,  or  to  give  to  his  son 
a good  education.  A third  is  aided,  if  he  has  been  un- 
fortunate in  business  or  afflicted  in  his  family,  by  contri- 
butions from  a few  of  his  relatives.  A fourth  borrows 
money  at  a high  rate  of  interest,  which  is  to  be  paid  on 
his  return.  After  the  most  careful  inquiry  on  the  sub- 
ject from  all  classes  of  Chinese,  I have  never  been  able 
to  hear  that  any  were  brought  over  by  capitalists  and 
worked  as  slaves  are,  against  their  will  and  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  employer.  This  fiction,  so  often  repeated 
to  their  disparagement  in  print  and  otherwise  in  this 
country,  arose  from  the  clubs  or  companies  which  the 
Chinese  are  accustomed  to  organize  in  any  region  where 
a number  of  them  may  be  temporary  strangers  together. 

Very  different  from  the  entirely  voluntary  emigra- 
tion of  the  Chinese  from  the  neighborhood  of  Canton, 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


479 


paying  their  own  expenses,  is  that  to  which  the  dis- 
tinctive epithet  of  “ coolies  ” has  often  been  applied, 
which  has  been  directed  principally  to  the  West  India 
Islands  and  Peru. 

After  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  British  Guiana  in 
1838,  the  planters  in  that  country  anxiously  turned  their 
eyes  abroad  in  search  of  free  labor.  In  1839  several 
hundred  Hindus,  most  of  them  of  the  coolie  caste, 
some  of  them  Mohammedans,  were  carried  there  from 
the  presidencies  of  Calcutta  and  Madras.  The  ex- 
periment, though  at  first  not  satisfactory,  proved  suffi- 
ciently encouraging  to  lead  the  colonial  government  to 
send  for  more.  It  also  brought  their  wives,  when 
willing,  without  cost  to  them.  The  contracts  were  gen- 
erally for  a term  of  five  years,  the  coolies  to  be  returned 
at  the  expense  of  the  colony.  They  were  paid  four  dol- 
lars a month,  and  food  and  clothing  were  found  them. 
But  the  length  and  expense  of  the  voyage  and  return, 
the  sickness  of  the  coolies  on  the  plantations,  the  short- 
ness of  the  term  of  service,  and  the  uneasiness  of  the 
British  people  lest  this  might  lead  to  a renewal  of  what 
would  be  virtual  slavery,  have  interfered  greatly  with 
this  emigration.  It  has  been,  however,  very  beneficial  to 
the  colony,  whose  most  important  products  were  multi- 
plied fourfold  in  twenty  years.  English  missionaries 
have  interested  themselves  in  the  instruction  of  these 
coolies,  but  their  temporary  residence  and  the  tempta- 
tions around  them  have  made  it  an  unpromising  field  for 
religious  efforts. 

About  1850  the  Spaniards  began  to  export  cargoes  of 
coolies  from  Amoy  to  the  island  of  Cuba.  The  region 
in  the  first  place  wTas  flooded  with  placards  inviting  men 


480 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


to  engage  in  sugar-planting  and  as  shepherds  and  la- 
borers there  for  terms  of  five  to  eight  years.  They  were 
offered  four  dollars  a month,  which  was  twice  the  amount 
they  could  earn  at  home,  with  besides  two  suits  of 
clothes,  medical  attendance,  sufficient  fixed  allowances 
of  rice  or  flour,  beef,  pork  or  fish,  sugar  and  tea,  land  to 
cultivate  vegetables,  Sunday  as  a day  of  rest,  free  pass- 
age for  wife  and  children,  with  pay  to  these  also  if  able  to 
work,  and  permission  to  be  released  from  their  contract 
in  one  year,  if  desired.  Many  Chinese  at  ports  along 
the  coast  were  entrapped  and  kept  in  confinement  in 
barracoons  until  they  could  be  carried  against  their 
will  on  shipboard.  Lewd  women,  intoxicating  drinks, 
debts  at  gambling-tables,  were  part  of  the  machinery. 
Once  on  the  ships,  they  were  shamefully  abused,  confined 
like  criminals,  and  not  sufficiently  fed.  In  a cargo  of 
five  hundred  and  six,  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
died ; in  one  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-six,  a hundred 
and  sixty-three  pined  to  death  with  hunger,  grief  and 
sickness. 

When  landed  in  Cuba  the  contract  was  sold  commonly 
for  about  four  hundred  dollars  to  planters  or  others 
needing  labor ; and  this  was  the  commencement  of  the 
brutal  infliction  of  all  the  wrongs  of  practical  slavery. 
It  was  to  the  interest  of  the  employer  to  get  all  the 
work  possible  out  of  the  amount  of  bone  and  muscle  put 
in  his  power  for  a limited  time.  Their  death  was  a dis- 
charge from  all  debts  due  to  them.  If  they  survived 
the  term,  he  forced  them  into  new  contracts.  Friend- 

' 4 

less,  helpless,  their  condition,  as  some  of  their  friends  in 
China  said,  was  that  of  “ hell  on  earth.”  Some  com- 
mitted suicide.  Not  a few  of  the  Spanish  mayorals,  or 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


481 


overseers,  were  murdered  by  the  desperate  objects  of 
their  cruelty. 

The  more  recent  accounts  from  Cuba  show  that  the 
general  impression  as  to  the  usefulness  of  Chinese  labor 
is  becoming  more  definite  in  its  favor.  And  the  present 
tendency  is  toward  the  abolition  of  African  slavery  and 
the  employment  of  the  Chinese.  Some  of  these  people, 
notwithstanding  the  fearful  odds  against  them,  have  done 
well  pecuniarily.  They  have  become  peddlers,  garden- 
ers, mechanics,  and  even  doctors,  and  shown  a native 
enterprise  which  may  at  some  future  time  place  the 
relations  between  them  and  the  indolent  Spaniards  upon 
a very  different  footing  from  that  in  which  they  stand 
toward  each  other  at  present. 

The  coolie  trade  to  Peru  and  the  Chincha  Islands, 
which  was  begun  in  1849,  was  one  which  crimsons  the 
cheek  with  shame  that  we  belong  to  the  same  race  of 
beings  which  could  enact  all  its  crimes,  or  that  we  in 
any  wise  as  a nation  share  in  the  proceeds  of  its  chief 
end,  the  procuring  of  guano  as  a manure  for  our  markets 
and  those  of  other  Christian  countries.  In  the  digging 
of  the  guano,  which  consists  of  the  deposits  of  a small 
sea-bird  like  a pigeon,  upon  the  broken  cliffs  of  the 
islands,  to  the  depth  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet, 
the  coolies  were  forced  to  prepare  their  food  before  the 
dawn  of  the  day  and  commence  work  as  soon  as  they 
could  see.  They  were  obliged  daily  to  dig  five  tons  of 
guano  and  wheel  it  to  a distance  of  over  one-eighth  of  a 
mile.  If  not  able  to  accomplish  the  task,  they  were 
flogged  in  the  most  cruel  manner.  No  Sunday  was 
allowed  for  rest.  Many  were  made  sick,  or  disabled  by 
sores  caused  by  the  guano  on  their  limbs.  In  their  de- 

31 


482 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


spair  numbers  of  them  committed  suicide,  some  drowning 
themselves  by  leaping  from  the  cliffs  into  the  sea,  others 
going  beneath  the  masses  of  guano  when  about  to  fall 
while  digging  it,  so  that  they  were  buried  alive. 

The  crimes  engendered  by  this  coolie  trade  were  as 
fiendish  as  any  that  ever  disgraced  the  slave  trade  with 
Africa.  I have  spoken  of  the  villanies  by  which  the 
victims  were  first  duped  and  entrapped.  Being  com- 
pletely in  the  power  of  the  foreign  seamen,  on  the  bosom 
of  the  ocean,  ignorant  of  where  they  were  going,  starved, 
sick,  in  despair,  life  was  of  small  account  to  them.  They 
committed  the  most  desperate  acts  and  provoked  the  like 
upon  them.  The  scenes  enacted  upon  the  ships  which 
carried  them  there  were  sometimes  truly  horrible.  The 
Waverly,  an  American  ship,  in  October,  1855,  put  in 
at  the  Manila,  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  to  bury  the 
captain,  who  had  died  of  dysentery.  Having  anchored 
in  the  bay,  the  mate,  who  was  in  command,  was  proceed- 
ing to  lower  the  body  into  a boat,  when  the  Chinese, 
either  because  some  of  them  wished  to  go  ashore,  or,  as 
some  thought,  on  account  of  some  superstitious  jmejudice, 
interfered  to  prevent  his  doing  so.  The  mate  discharged 
a revolver  among  them,  and  shot  one*  man  dead.  The 
crew  then  having  armed  themselves  drove  the  whole  of 
the  Chinese  below  and  battened  down  the  hatches,  and 
the  mate  proceeded  on  shore  with  the  body  of  the  cap- 
tain. He  returned  to  the  ship  in  the  evening,  but  took 
no  measures  to  learn  the  condition  of  the  Chinese  who 
were  shut  down  without  air  or  light.  When  the  hatches 
were  opened  the  following  morning,  two  hundred  and 
fifty-one  of  them  were  found  dead ! Scenes  as  terrible 
occurred  on  several  other  ships  about  the  same  period. 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


483 


Within  the  past  few  years  they  have  from  time  to  time 
startled  the  people  of  Christian  countries.  In  the  winter 
of  1865  the  captain  of  an  Italian  ship,  the  Napoleon 
Canavero,  when  the  Chinese  became  rebellious,  drove 
them  below  by  force  of  arms  and  fastened  down  the 
hatches.  The  Chinese,  rather  than  be  suffocated  to 
death,  set  fire  to  the  ship.  The  Italians,  finding  they 
could  not  extinguish  the  flames,  abandoned  the  ship 
without  opening  the  hatches,  and  the  whole  of  the  Chi- 
nese on  board  are  supposed  to  have  in  this  awful  way 
perished. 

There  were  acts  permitted  by  a just  God  which  now 
and  then  paid  back  upon  the  whites  a portion  of  the 
debt  of  vengeance  due.  Chinese  pirates  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  taken  aboard  coolie-ships,  armed  with  con- 
cealed weapons,  and  at  a suitable  opportunity  rose  and 
murdered  the  officers  and  such  of  the  crew  as  they  did 
not  need  for  the  management  of  the  vessel,  and  then 
made  their  escape  to  the  nearest  land. 

The  representation  of  these  terrible  transactions  to  the 
several  governments  interested  led  our  Congress,  in 
1862,  to  prohibit  ships  of  the  United  States  engaging  in 
the  transportation  of  coolies  or  involuntary  emigrants ; 
to  conventions  between  the  Chinese  government  and  the 
English  and  French  ministers  regulating  it,  in  1860  and 
in  1866,  the  provisions  of  which  were  adopted  by  the 
United  States,  according  to  instructions  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  in  August  of  the  same  year ; and  subse- 
quently to  the  closing  of  the  Portuguese  port  of  Macao 
against  this  trade  by  a proclamation  of  the  governor  of 
Macao  and  Timor,  in  1868. 

The  agreement  between  the  English,  French  and 


484 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


American  authorities  and  the  Chinese  government  con- 
tains some  admirable  points.  It  requires  emigration 
agents  to  be  responsible  men,  under  the  supervision  of 
the  consuls  of  the  various  countries,  and  acting  through 
a license  from  the  Chinese  authorities,  which  may  be 
revoked  for  abuse  of  its  privileges;  it  minutely  states 
the  points  which  should  be  specified  in  contracts  in 
order  to  protect  the  emigrant  j1  it  provides  for  rest  from 
labor  on  the  Sabbath,  that  is,  one  day  in  seven,  and 
against  any  man  being  forced  to  labor  more  than  nine 
hours  and  a half  in  the  day ; the  engagement  must  not 
exceed  five  years ; the  cost  of  the  passage  home  of  the 
emigrant  and  family  is  to  be  paid,  or  if  he  re-engage  for 
another  five  years,  one-half  that  amount  shall  be  paid  in 
addition  as  a premium;  each  emigrant  is  required  to 
appear  before  the  Chinese  officer  previous  to  embarking 
and  to  give  his  voluntary  assent  and  signature  to  the  con- 
tract ; a list  of  names  of  emigrants  is  to  be  sent  to  the 

1 It  may  be  of  importance  to  mention  these  points.  The  article  reads  as 
follows : 

“Article  VIII. 

“The  contract  shall  specify: 

“1st.  The  place  of  destination  and  the  length  of  the  engagement. 

“ 2d.  The  right  of  the  emigrant  to  be  conveyed  back  to  his  own  country,  and 
the  sum  that  shall  be  paid  at  the  expiration  of  his  contract  to  cover  the  expense 
of  his  voyage  home,  and  that  of  his  family  should  they  accompany  him. 

“ 3d.  The  number  of  working-days  in  the  year  and  the  length  of  each  day’s 
work. 

“4 th.  The  wages,  rations,  clothing  and  other  advantages  promised  to  the 
emigrant. 

“5 th.  Gratuitous  medical  attendance. 

“6 th.  The  sum  which  the  emigrant  agrees  to  set  aside  out  of  his  monthly 
wages  for  the  benefit  of  persons  to  be  named  by  him,  should  he  desire  to  appro- 
priate any  sum  to  such  a purpose. 

“ 7th.  Copies  of  [the  most  important]  articles  of  these  regulations. 

“ Any  clause  which  shall  purport  to  render  invalid  any  of  the  provisions 
of  this  regulation  is  null  and  void.” 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


485 


foreign  consul  interested  and  the  local  authorities  at  the 
place  of  destination,  and  provision  is  made  for  inspection 
of  the  vessels  as  to  health  and  fitness  for  the  voyage. 
At  the  close  of  this  valuable  document,  Prince  Kung,  in 
behalf  of  the  imperial  government,  formally  revokes  the 
old  prohibitions  and  declares  “ that  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment throws  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  free  emigration — 
that  is  to  say,  to  the  departure  of  Chinese  subjects,  em- 
barking of  their  own  free-will  and  at  their  own  expense 
for  foreign  countries.”  But  he  threatens  punishment 
with  the  extreme  rigor  of  the  law  upon  attempts  to  bring 
Chinese  under  engagements  except  according  to  these 
regulations ; declares  death  to  Chinese  found  kidnapping, 
and  forbids  unlicensed  foreign  emigration-agents,  or 
operations  at  other  than  the  open  ports. 

The  interesting  question,  wThether  contracts  compelling 
coolies  to  labor  for  a term  of  years  can  be  so  made  in 
China  by  one  who  designs  to  import  them  to  the  United 
States  as  to  be  of  substantial  value  on  their  arrival  here, 
has  been  decided  in  the  negative  by  the  Department  of 
State  of  the  United  States,  and  its  opinion  has  been  ex- 
pressed that  anything  like  “the  apprentice  system”  is 
not  to  be  encouraged  in  this  country.1  However,  Chi- 
nese laborers,  like  any  others,  are  at  liberty  to  come 
voluntarily,  and  under  contracts  which  are  assignable, 
and  if  these  be  violated,  they  are  subject  to  action  for 
pecuniary  damages.2 

1 Papers  relating  to  Foreign  Affairs,  etc.,  1866 : Part  I,  pp.  492-494,  506-507. 

2 The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  act  of  Congress,  passed  July  4,  1864, 
entitled  “An  Act  to  Encourage  Immigration.’'  Having  authorized  the  appoint- 
ment of  a “Commissioner  of  Immigration,”  it  continues  as  follows: 

“ Sec.  2.  All  contracts  that  shall  be  made  by  emigrants  to  the  United  States, 
in  foreign  countries,  in  conformity  to  regulations  that  may  be  established  by  the 
said  commissioner,  whereby  emigrants  shall  pledge  the  wages  of  their  labor  for 


486 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  extent  of  the  emigration  of  the  people  of  China 
to  this  country  in  the  future  will  be  largely  governed  by 
ourselves.  It  is  true  that  their  numbers  are  vast,  that 
their  wages  are  small,  and  that  they  love  work  and  are 
capable  of  doing  much  that  we  need  to  be  done.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  are  proud,  afraid  of  the  sea  and 
afraid  of  our  race,  and  love  home  and  kindred.  They 
will  not  come  in  considerable  numbers  without  pressure 
on  our  part. 

The  early  rush  of  Chinese  immigration  to  California 
was  largely  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  our  own  people. 
In  the  year  1849  three  hundred  came  over,  in  1850 
four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  two  thousand  seven  hundred 
in  1851.  Many  of  these  took  back  gold  and  confirmed 
the  fact  of  its  existence.  Foreign  shipping  merchants 
hastened  to  take  advantage  of  the  disposition  to  emi- 
grate. Those  in  Hong-kong  and  Canton  circulated 
placards,  maps  and  pamphlets,  presenting  highly-colored 
accounts  of  the  “ Golden  Hills.”  Numerous  ships  sent 
out  native  agents  to  obtain  passengers.  The  consequence 
was  the  increase  of  the  number  of  immigrants  in  1852 
to  over  eighteen  thousand,  of  whom  only  twenty-five 
were  women.  More  than  eleven  thousand  arrived  in  the 
months  of  June  and  July.  But  several  of  the  vessels 

a term  not  exceeding  twelve  months,  to  repay  the  expenses  of  their  emigration, 
shall  be  held  to  be  valid  in  law,  and  may  be  enforced  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  the  several  States  and  Territories;  and  such  advances,  if  so  stipu- 
lated in  the  contract,  and  the  contract  be  recorded  in  the  Recorder's  office  in  the 
county  where  the  emigrant  shall  settle,  shall  operate  as  a lien  upon  any  land 
thereafter  acquired  by  the  emigrant,  whether  under  the  Homestead  law,  when 
the  title  is  consummated,  or  on  property  otherwise  acquired,  until  liquidated  by 
the  emigrant;  but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  deemed  to  authorize  any 
contract  contravening  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  creating  in  any 
way  the  relation  of  slavery  or  servitude.” 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


487 


were  old,  filthy,  rotten  craft  that  had  gone  through 
their  term  of  ordinary  service,  been  used  then  for  whal- 
ers and  afterward  abandoned.  So  much  sickness  was 
produced  among  the  Chinese  on  them  that  those  at  home 
became  alarmed,  and  the  next  year  not  one-fourth  the 
number  came. 

The  number  of  Chinese  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  in 
1856  amounted,  as  I found  by  careful  investigations 
made  at  my  request  into  the  records  of  their  companies, 
to  about  forty  thousand  men  and  perhaps  three  thousand 
women.  Nine  thousand  more  had  returned,  and  fourteen 
hundred  had  died.  The  number  of  men  in  this  country 
in  1868  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Loomis,  who  is  better  acquainted 
with  them  as  a people  than  any  other  person  on  the  Pa- 
cific coast,  judged  from  his  inquiries  then  to  be  about 
sixty-one  thousand,  and  there  had  been  over  forty-six 
thousand  departures  and  nearly  four  thousand  deaths. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Bennett,1  of  San  Francisco,  at  the  close  of 
last  year  made  an  examination  by  the  aid  of  their  com- 
panies which  led  him  to  estimate  that  there  are  now 
about  ninety  thousand  in  this  country ; that  is,  that 
there  had  arrived  from  China,  since  1848,  a hundred 
and  thirty-eight  thousand  men,  of  whom  thirty-seven 
thousand  had  returned  and  over  ten  thousand  were  dead. 
Of  the  number  here  less  than  half  are  in  California. 
There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  there  are  more 
Chinese  than  the  number  which  this  gentleman  sup- 
poses now  in  the  country.  Of  these  ninety  thousand 
persons,  it  is  supposed  nearly  five  thousand  are  women 


1 Secretary  of  the  San  Francisco  Chinese  Protection  Society,  an  organization 
which  was  formed  on  account  of  the  cruel  and  unprovoked  injuries  sometimes 
inflicted  upon  these  industrious  people  by  bad  characters  about  the  city. 


488 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


and  anout  two  thousand  are  children.  Probably  two- 
fifths  of  these  are  females  and  children  living  in  San 
Francisco,  as  it  is  difficult  to  provide  for  them  outside  of 
the  large  towns. 

The  stream  which  begins  to  set  in  from  China  to  the 
New  World  does  not  remain  in  California.  It  flows 
wherever  a channel  is  open  for  it  by  the  discovery  of 
new  mines,  by  the  opening  of  new  opportunities  of  trade 
or  by  the  requirements  for  human  labor.  It  is  supposed 
that  fifty  thousand  Chinese  are  distributed  over  other 
Pacific  States  and  Territories.  Half  of  these  are  in 
Montana  and  Idaho ; a fourth  of  them  are  in  Oregon  and 
Nevada ; the  remainder  are  distributed  along  the  lines 
of  railroad  eastward  and  in  Colorado  and  Utah,  and  a 
few  in  Mexico  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  As  the 
number  increases,  they  will  press  on  into  all  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  West  and  South,*  into  all  the 
provinces  of  Mexico  and  into  all  the  countries  of  South 
America  and  all  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  The 
wants  of  those  vast,  almost  untenanted  portions  of  the 
globe,  abounding  in  all  the  requisites  of  productive  soil, 
of  variety  of  esculent  plants,  of  mineral  wealth,  of 
water  communication  to  sustain  a large  population,  can 
only  be  met  by  the  immigration  of  a race  so  capable  as 
the  Chinese.  And  the  Creator  has  prepared  a treasury 
of  labor  in  that  empire  from  which  those  lands  and 
islands  can  draw  without  danger  of  exhaustion.  This 
only  we  can  now  foretell,  that  the  handful  of  Chinese 
now  on  this  continent  is  but  the  trickling  of  the  rivulet 
which  will  swell  into  a river  that  will  spread  over  all 
the  New  World,  and  over  all  the  islands  of  the  great 
ocean  which  fills  the  side  opposite  to  that  which  has 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


489 


been  the  scene  of  the  civilization  which  has  been  our 
heritage. 

The  general  subject  of  Chinese  immigration  is  so 
broad  that  it  might  readily  be  expanded  into  a volume ; 
but  I must  dismiss  this  chapter  with  some  practical 
suggestions  which  it  is  important  that  our  people  should 
consider. 

It  must  have  forced  itself  upon  the  observation  of 
most  well-informed  persons  that  the  populations  of  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Chinese  seacoast  are  quite  dissimilar 
in  character.  Those  of  the  province  of  Canton  have 
more  of  that  which  might  be  supposed  to  result  from 
many  centuries  of  communication,  and  of  conflicts  too, 
with  foreigners ; they  are  more  enterprising  and  intelli- 
gent. Those  of  the  province  of  Fu-kien  and  the  por- 
tions of  Canton  near  it,  who  have  traded  more  largely 
with  the  Indian  Archipelago,  Siam  and  the  neighboring 
semi-civilized  countries,  are  bold  and  energetic,  but  more 
rude ; it  is  there  that  infanticide  abounds,  and  the  people 
are  more  uncultivated  and  ignorant  than  they  are  in  any 
other  part  of  China  visited  by  foreigners.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  the  valley  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  river  are  more 
mild,  timid  and  inefficient.  The  people  of  the  northern 
provinces  begin  to  approach  the  Tartar  type ; they  are 
physically  larger,  their  food,  temperament  and  habits 
are  those  of  a northern  latitude.  The  “ coolie”  emigra- 
tion to  Cuba  and  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  has 
been  largely  from  Fu-kien;  there  has  been  very  little 
from  any  ports  of  the  north ; the  emigration  to  Cali- 
fornia has  been  almost  exclusively  from  the  districts 
about  Canton.  It  is  probable  that  these  differences  of 
temperament  may  exercise  a considerable  influence  upon 


490 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tlie  directions  which  the  large  emigrations  of  the  future 
shall  take. 

It  is  a most  criminal  and  perilous  matter  to  attempt 
to  treat  the  intelligent  Chinese  race  after  the  same 
fashion  as  was  formerly  done  with  the  negro,  and  deceive 
and  confine  them  in  “ coolie-ships.”  The  horrible  trans- 
actions, of  which  I have  mentioned  a few,  will  contin- 
ually recur  with  similar  provocation.  Vessels  will  be 
burned,  officers  and  crews  slaughtered,  and  cargoes  of 
men  will  destroy  themselves  and  all  on  board  rather 
than  be  enslaved.  The  Chinese  know  what  liberty  is  in 
their  land  beyond  any  other  in  Eastern  Asia.  They 
will  do  just  what  a body  of  Americans  would  do  if 
driven  to  desj)eration. 

Emigrant  ships  on  the  Pacific  should  be  subjected  to 
legislative  requirements,  in  respect  to  the  amount  of 
room  allowed  to  passengers,  as  to  diet,  as  to  ventilation, 
as  to  cleanliness  and  as  to  medical  attention,  and  should 
be  inspected  by  disinterested  and  capable  agents  of  the 
government,  just  as  the  same  class  of  vessels  on  the  At- 
lantic ocean.  There  can  be  no  excuse  before  God  or 
man  for  the  terrible  mortality  which  has  occurred  on 
some  of  the  vessels  containing  Chinese  passengers.  Let 
the  government  attach  a legal  and  sufficient  pecuniary 
penalty  to  the  loss  of  life  on  shipboard  and  it  will  cease. 
The  improvements  in  the  whole  matter  of  hygiene  on 
shipboard  have  accomplished  results  within  the  present 
century  that  to  many  must  seem  truly  wonderful,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  those  which  make  long  voyages. 
A report  on  the  subject  of  quarantine,  made  by  a com- 
mittee of  the  British  Parliament,  consisting  of  Lord 
Carlisle  and  others,  some  years  ago,  brought  out  the 


CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 


491 


facts  that  when  the  system  of  transportation  of  convicts 
to  Australia  was  first  adopted,  in  some  of  the  earlier  voy- 
ages one-half  of  those  who  embarked  were  lost ; later,  on 
the  passage  to  New  South  Wales,  in  the  “Hillsborough,” 
out  of  306  who  embarked,  100  were  lost,  and  in  the 
“Atlas,”  out  of  175  who  embarked,  61  were  lost.  In  the 
period  from  1795  to  1801,  out  of  3,833  convicts  who  em- 
barked, 385  died,  or  nearly  1 in  10.  But  after  the  prin- 
ciple of  pecuniary  responsibility  for  the  lives  of  passen- 
gers began  to  be  applied,  in  1801,  out  of  2,398  who 
embarked  only  52  died,  or  1 in  46.  The  improvement 
has  continued  up  till  the  present  time,  when  it  amounts 
to  only  li  per  cent.,  which  is  even  lower  than  the  aver- 
age mortality  of  the  same  class  living  on  shore.  On  the 
steamers  of  the  Pacific  mail  line  from  San  Francisco  to 
Shanghai  and  Hong-kong  there  appears  to  be  reason- 
able care  exercised.  But  there  are  numerous  sailing 
vessels,  carrying  Chinese  passengers  elsewhere,  which 
should  be  made  the  subjects  of  strict  supervision,  and, 
where  the  laws  are  violated,  of  just  punishment. 

Those  Chinese  who  make  voluntary  contracts,  which 
they  clearly  understand,  if  honorably  and  kindly  treated, 
will  as  a general  rule  be  disposed  to  abide  by  them. 
But  it  should  be  a point  most  carefully  guarded  by  the 
legislatures  and  courts  in  the  parts  of  the  country  where 
they  shall  be  employed  that  they  shall  be  only  subjected 
to  pecuniary  liabilities  in  cases  of  violations  of  contract. 
The  infliction  of  corporeal  punishment  upon  them  will 
not  alone  be  a great  wrong  which  may  lead  to  very  grave 
results  in  the  case  of  the  parties  inflicting  it;  it  will 
moreover  be  a door  to  the  return  of  those  who  may  have 
them  in  their  power  to  the  scenes  of  barbarity  and 


492 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tyranny  for  winch  our  nation  has  too  recently  atoned  to 
eternal  Justice  by  a sea  of  blood ! 

An  immigration  which  does  not  include  virtuous 
females  will  of  necessity  be  a vicious,  unhappy,  trouble- 
some and  unprofitable  one  in  any  country.  It  is  cheaper 
to  pay  the  passage  of  such  women — wives,  mothers, 
daughters,  sisters — than  for  any  community  or  any  em- 
ployee of  a considerable  number  of  men  to  be  without 
their  offices  and  influences.  The  Chinese  is  a race  among 
which  the  affection  for  kindred  holds  a high  place,  and 
over  which  it  exerts  a powerful  control.  Every  possible 
means  ought  to  be  employed  to  check  the  coming  of  the 
wretched,  pestilential  creatures  now  brought  over,  and 
to  encourage  the  men  to  bring  their  families. 

And  in  all  the  general  measures,  legislative  or  com- 
mercial, which  we  adopt  in  reference  to  this  element  of 
our  population,  we  ought  to  remember  that  we  are  not 
acting  for  temporary,  or  personal,  or  our  own  national 
interests ; but  that  we  are  set  by  divine  Providence  in  a 
position  which  demands  that  we  should  be  inspired  by 
loftier  and  broader  motives,  which  are  derived  from  the 
suggestions  of  an  enlarged  observation  of  history,  a sin- 
cere devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  humanity,  and  by 
a humble  and  earnest  desire  to  be  but  the  instruments 
by  which  the  Supreme  Being  shall  execute  his  great  and 
beneficent  plans. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CHINESE  LABOR. 

TT  is  important  before  as  a nation  we  introduce  to  a 
large  extent  Chinese  labor  that  we  should  form  some 
distinct  conception  of  its  character,  of  the  probabilities 
of  its  usefulness  and  the  objections  to  the  employment 
of  it. 

The  close  observer  will  soon  discern  that  several  ele- 
ments are  fundamental  in  regard  to  Chinese  labor — 
the  antiquity  of  the  social  system,  the  respect  for  in- 
tellectual employment,  the  density  of  the  population 
and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  subsistence.  These  make 
it  peculiar  in  any  of  those  respects  in  which  it  differs 
from  labor  in  any  other  country.  They  imply  that  the 
institutions  have  become  thoroughly  settled ; that  the 
arts  have  attained  a high  degree  of  perfection ; that 
there  are  broad  lines  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and 
between  the  intelligent  and  the  ignorant ; that  the  poor 
must  exercise  ingenuity,  industry  and  thrift  to  support 
life ; that  the  characters  of  men  will  be  more  definite ; 
that  the  employments  will  be  more  numerous  and  each 
branch  better  understood ; and  that  remuneration  will 
be  fixed  at  lower  rates. 

We  may  group  the  characteristics  of  Chinese  labor 
under  four  heads:  the  industry  of  the  people,  their 

493 


494 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


habits  of  economy,  their  intelligence,  and  the  variety 
of  their  employments.  Let  us  consider  each  of  these 
more  fully. 

The  first  impression  made  upon  the  traveler  in  China 
in  relation  to  the  teeming  multitudes  around  him,  after 
that  of  the  mere  novelty  of  forms  and  costumes,  is  the 
intense  industry  of  nearly  every  one  he  sees.  The  river 
people  do  not  wait  for  wind  or  tide,  but  drive  vessels  as 
large  as  our  brigs  and  schooners  by  numerous  long  side- 
oars  or  immense  sculling-oars  behind  or  on  either  quar- 
ter of  the  stern ; and  the  water  is  crowded  with  men  and 
women  and  children,  toiling  in  their  vessels  of  various 
shapes,  buying  and  selling  the  commodities  of  the  loom, 
the  garden  or  the  shop.  On  the  shore  he  looks  over  a 
landscape  every  portion  of  which  except  barren  hillsides 
is  cultivated  to  the  highest  degree  and  covered  with  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  grain,  vegetables  and  fruit.  The  narrow 
streets  are  packed  with  men  intent  upon  all  the  varied 
employments  of  the  inhabitants  of  great  cities,  and  are 
lined  on  either  side  with  shops  for  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  the  countless  articles  which  a numerous  and 
luxurious  population  can  require.  Abodes  of  wealth 
adorn  the  more  retired  streets  or  the  suburbs.  The  rich 
project  and  push  their  larger  schemes;  the  poor  struggle 
and  toil  for  the  subsistence  of  the  passing  day.  There 
is  no  Sabbath  known,  and  few  holidays  are  observed. 
No  equal  population  of  any  other  part  of  the  Old  World 
is  more  intently  and  incessantly  busy  than  that  of  the 
cities  and  towns  of  China. 

The  physical  system  of  the  Arab  or  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indian  through  successive  generations  has  become 
conformed  to  his  roving  and  predacious  habits.  His 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


495 


blood  and  flesh  are  like  those  of  the  wild  animals  of  the 
forest  or  the  desert.  But  ages  of  toil  seem  to  have 
tamed  the  nature  of  the  Chinese  till  now  patience  and 
diligence  have  become  elements  of  both  mind  and  body. 
They  work  because  they  love  work,  honor  work  and 
maintain  happiness  and  self-respect  by  work.  Work  is 
a necessity  of  the  muscular  and  mental,  like  food  for  the 
digestive,  or  air  for  the  pulmonary  system. 

Foreigners  in  China  see  this  national  characteristic 
exhibited  in  manifold  ways.  The  tea  they  purchase  is 
prepared  writh  an  amount  of  manual  labor  that  is  almost 
beyond  belief.  The  tender  leaves  are  separately  rolled, 
and  finished  with  a twist  in  the  preparation  of  some 
kinds  of  it.  The  amount  and  variety  of  manipulation 
which  the  Chinese  think  necessary  and  cheerfully  be- 
stow upon  the  tea,  to  retain  its  highest  flavor,  is  the 
principal  reason  why  its  culture  has  not  become  ex- 
tensive in  any  of  the  numerous  other  countries  where 
the  plant  itself  thrives.  Silk  is  wrought  with  a care 
and  embroidered  with  a delicate  and  patient  skill  which 
are  not  elsewhere  known  in  the  preparation  of  the  fabric. 
The  paintings  upon  rice-paper  are  so  elaborately  finished 
in  every  vein  and  stripe  and  spot  and  tint  of  a butterfly’s 
wing,  or  of  the  petals  of  a tiger  lily,  or  of  the  bright 
feathers  of  a tropical  pheasant,  that  one  has  to  examine 
them  carefully  to  be  satisfied  that  they  are  not  the  arti- 
cle itself  attached  to  the  surface.  In  the  ordinary  em- 
ployments of  the  household,  whatever  faults  may  be 
attributed  to  the  Chinese  indolence  is  not  included 
among  them.  They  are  ready,  at  all  hours,  promptly 
and  patiently  to  obey  all  orders  which  they  understand 
and  which  relate  to  their  own  sphere. 


496 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  next  cardinal  virtue  of  the  Chinese  is  economy. 
The  sustenance  of  the  masses  of  humanity  within  the 
limits  of  the  empire  requires  the  utilization  of  every  pos- 
sible material  suitable  for  food,  raiment,  fuel  or  the  me- 
chanical arts.  There  is  scarcely  any  imaginable  form 
of  matter  for  which  some  use  is  not  found.  And  the 
ingenuity  with  which  cheap  and  common  materials,  such 
as  bamboo,  paper,  slate  or  pottery,  are  applied  to  pur- 
poses of  necessity,  comfort  or  ornament  is  remarkable 
and  sometimes  even  amusing. 

The  employer  may  be  sure  that  in  any  department  of 
labor  in  which  he  can  trust  the  honesty,  or  be  thor- 
oughly cognizant  of  the  conduct  of  laborers,  there  will 
be  care  exercised  as  to  tools,  utensils,  raw  material  and 
the  odds  and  ends,  the  saving  of  which  may  possibly 
constitute  the  chief  advantage  in  the  business.  "When 
food  is  provided  it  will  not  be  wasted,  though  it  may  be 
disposed  of  otherwise.  Clothing  will  be  kept,  so  long  as 
the  native  pride  is  maintained,  scrupulously  neat,  as  to 
external  appearance  at  least.  And  we  may  remark,  as 
a special  virtue  in  a people  who  possess  so  few  means 
of  accurately  measuring  time,  the  punctuality  of  the 
Chinese.  They  understand  the  value  of  time  and  are 
economical  of  it,  just  as  they  are  of  money.  They  are 
willing  to  give  full  measure  of  time  in  work  when  they 
are  satisfied  with  the  wages.  They  claim  few  holidays, 
except  some  days  at  the  New  Year,  and  possibly  one  in 
the  spring  and  fall  to  repair  the  tombs  of  kindred  and 
friends. 

The  wages  paid  for  Chinese  labor  in  this  country  will 
in  the  first  place  be  cheaper  than  any  other.  The  sum 
obtained  by  laboring  men  in  their  own  country,  from 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


497 


tlieir  own  people,  is  equal  to  but  a few  cents  a day ; 
from  foreigners  they  expect,  as  cooks,  coolies,  etc.,  from 
three  to  seven  dollars  a month,  and  to  find  themselves. 
In  California  they  are  paid  thirty  dollars  a month  in 
factories  and  on  railroads.  In  the  mines  they  have 
usually  been  hired  at  about  two-thirds  the  wages  of 
white  laborers. 

Yet  it  may  usually  be  expected  that  the  wages  of  Chi- 
nese laborers,  when  they  become  acquainted  with  the 
work  to  be  done  and  with  our  people  and  language,  will 
rise.  They  are  shrewd,  ambitious,  and  will  not  be  satis- 
fied to  be  placed  upon  a much  lower  scale  than  others 
who  can  do  no  better  work  than  themselves*.  They  will 
in  the  future  probably  not  command  the  rates  paid  to 
white  laborers.  They  have  qualities  which  will  always 
make  them  valuable. 

A third  general  characteristic  of  Chinese  labor  is 
intelligence.  In  the  south  of  China  the  people  are  so 
generally  taught  to  read  that  it  is  rare  to  meet  with  a 
man  who  does  not  know  the  common  printed  characters 
in  books.  They  think  for  themselves,  and  generally 
perform  their  work  in  a straightforward  and  sensible 
manner.  When  necessary  to  learn  foreign  methods  of 
mechanical  or  other  work,  they  readily  comprehend  the 
explanations,  ascertain  what  is  essential,  and  learn  the 
necessary  manipulations  or  forms.  It  is  however  im- 
portant to  teach  them  correctly  at  the  beginning,  since 
their  arts  and  methods  are  so  very  different  from  our 
own,  and  they  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  follow 
their  old  precedents,  that  when  they  take  up  oui’s  and 
once  fix  them  in  their  memory  it  is  difficult  to  induce 
them  to  change. 


32 


498 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


In  this  feature  of  the  Chinese  there  is  a ground  of 
great  superiority  over  laborers  of  some  other  races.  The 
painful  stolidity  of  some  of  the  ignorant  European 
whites  and  of  most  of  the  degraded  Africans  of  this 
country  is  rarely  seen  among  this  swarthy  people. 

Combined  with  intelligence  is  willingness.  It  amounts 
to  cheerfulness  and  mirthfulness  among  each  other  and 
those  with  whom  they  feel  at  ease.  But  to  employers 
generally  they  manifest  a most  refreshing  promptness 
and  willingness  to  do  just  what  they  are  asked  to  do. 
The  habit  of  deference  and  politeness  is  instilled  with 
their  mother’s  milk.  The  first  care  of  a father  is  to 
teach  his  son  the  language  of  proper  respect  toward 
kindred  and  superiors.  Amid  all  the  necessary  jarring 
and  jamming  of  the  crowded  streets  of  a Chinese  city, 
or  of  the  countless  boats  in  a swift  tide  upon  a Chinese 
river,  the  amount  of  good  nature,  forbearance  and  cour- 
tesy exhibited  is  a constant  source  of  pleasant  surprise 
to  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  the  oaths,  the  bad 
passions  and  the  blows 'seen  and  heard  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances in  our  sea-coast  cities  or  on  our  rivers  in  the 
East  or  West.  Many  are  the  times  in  which  the  mission- 
ary in  China,  acquainted  with  the  language,  when  he 
hears  the  angry,  and  bitter  words  which  the  presence  of 
foreigners  jmovokes,  turns  to  the  crowd  and  appeals  to 
them  in  some  little  pleasantry,  or  with  the  inquiry 
whether  they  consider  such  conduct  to  be  polite ; in  a 
moment  the  sound  of  their  own  tongue  and  manifestation 
of  acquaintance  with  “ good  manners”  disarms  them,  and 
they  express  regret  for  what  has  been  offensive.  The 
ordinary  labor  of  servants  is  done  without  the  surliness 
and  muttering  and  reluctance  which  are  considered  by 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


499 


many  persons  of  that  class  to  be  a prerogative  in  virtue 
of  their  condescending  to  an  inferior  position. 

One  other  characteristic  of  Chinese  labor  may  be  no- 
ticed— its  variety.  In  an  old  country  the  employments 
of  men  are  far  more  numerous  than  they  are  in  a new 
one.  Society,  as  some  classes  become  wealthy,  multiplies 
its  demands  for  articles  of  use,  comfort  and  luxury ; and 
as  other  classes  become  poor,  they  quit  the  ordinary  and 
crowded  paths  of  industry,  and  ever  seek  to  discover 
some  which  may  be  more  untrodden  and  remunerative. 
Different  as  are  the  society  and  employments  of  China 
from  those  in  America,  yet  it  may  be  said  that  there  is 
scarcely  a generic  want  there  which  has  not  some  coun- 
terpart here.  Hence  it  is  one  of  the  principal  elements 
of  value  in  the  Chinese  immigration  that  we  find  men 
acquainted  with  a great  variety  of  useful  knowledge,  and 
skill  in  the  agricultural,  mechanical  and  other  arts. 

The  first  aim  of  those  who  early  came  to  this  country 
was  to  work  in  the  mines.  Seeing  the  want  of  cooks, 
washermen  and  waiters,  many  soon  were  induced  to 
adopt  these  less  laborious  and  hazardous  employments, 
and  quickly  amassed  sums  sufficient  to  satisfy  them,  at 
a time  when  cooks  in  families  were  paid  forty  or  fifty 
dollars  a month  and  washermen  received  three  dol- 
lars a day  for  renovating  soiled  clothes.  In  the  mining 
regions  of  Montana,  Nevada  and  other  portions  of  the 
Pacific  coast  the  people  now  eagerly  welcome  this  neat, 
sober,  industrious  race  to  fill  these  offices  in  the  house- 
hold or  community.  Many  an  exhausted  and  sick 
American  wife  greets  a Chinese  servant  as  a boon  be- 
yond price. 

The  Chinese  soon  after  their  first  advent  upon  this 


500 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


coast  began  to  explore  other  avenues  of  gain.  Some 
became  shopkeepers  of  various  kinds.  Eepresentatives 
of  wealthy  mercantile  firms  in  Canton  or  Hong-kong 
established  houses  in  San  Francisco,  with  branches  in 
the  mining  towns.  Doctors  and  druggists  opened  their 
shops  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering.  Butchers  sold 
j)ork  and  poultry  as  in  their  own  cities  and  villages. 
Tailors  and  shoemakers  began  to  ply  their  trades.  And 
thus  the  Chinese  quarters  of  San  Francisco,  Sacramento 
and  other  places  in  California  began  to  assume  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  streets  of  their  native  cities.  And 
gamblers  and  lewd  women  followed,  and  became  even 
more  bold  and  wicked  than  the  same  classes  at  home. 

Employments  useful  to  our  own  people  were  early  es- 
tablished by  the  Chinese  among  us.  The  gardens  upon 
the  hillsides,  thoroughly  irrigated,  manured  and  tilled, 
supplied  to  our  towns  a constant  abundance  and  variety 
of  fresh  and  cheap  vegetables.  A few  men  cut  and  pre- 
pared kindling  and  other  wood  for  fuel.  A large  number 
found  employment  in  fishing,  and  in  various  kinds  of 
common  labor. 

The  good  points  of  Chinese  labor  have  been  enu- 
merated. Have  these  people  no  faults  ? Yes.  They  are 
suspicious  until  they  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
us;  they  are  often  dishonest;  they  often  lie;  they  feel 
unsettled  in  this  country ; and  they  are  in  danger  of 
temptations  to  sensual  indulgences. 

Suspicion  of  whites  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  in  a peo- 
ple who  for  ages  past  have  been  plundered  and  ha- 
rassed by  Western  nations  as  have  the  inhabitants  of  the 
southern  coast  of  China.  But,  beyond  this,  suspicious- 
ness is  an  attribute  of  all  heathen  races.  The  want  of 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


501 


die  virtues  of  Christianity  necessarily  creates  mutual 
want  of  confidence.  But  when  the  experience  of  the 
Chinese  shows  them  that  an  American  is  a sincere  and 
disinterested  friend,  they  exhibit  their  esteem  and  grati- 
tude in  numerous  pleasing  ways,  and  are  ready  often  to 
load  him  with  gifts  beyond  their  means. 

They  generally  require  to  be  watched  to  prevent  dis- 
honesty and  pilfering.  But  when  articles  are  commit- 
ted to  their  care,  and  their  honor  and  better  feelings  are 
appealed  to,  they  are  punctiliously  faithful.  And  when 
they  are  won  to  unreserved  confidence  in  employers,  the 
meet  implicit  trust  may  be  reposed  in  them. 

They  are  not  sensible  of  the  evil  of  lying  like  those 
educated  under  the  light  of  the  inspired  word  of  Him 
who  searcheth  the  heart  and  bringeth  every  secret  thing 
into  judgment.  Yet  they  are  sensitive  to  moral  con- 
siderations, and  may  be  made  to  feel  the  shamefulness 
and  wrong  of  falsehood. 

They  feel  here  like  strangers  in  a strange  land ; and  > 
this  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  our  own  people  in  new 
countries,  makes  them  unsettled  and  unhappy.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  their  habits  at  home  are  just  the  oppo- 
site from  this ; and  when  satisfied  with  employers  and 
wages,  they  often  continue  in  one  place  a long  time. 

The  pure  and  stable  morality  of  those  who  know  the 
truths  of  Christianity  of  course  they  lack.  They  are  a 
heathen  people.  And  yet  their  very  heathenism  is  not 
the  fantastic,  obscene  and  bloody  religion  elsewhere  seen 
in  Asia,  which  insults  the  reason  and  the  sense  of  man- 
kind, and  sends  its  stench  into  the  heavens. 

These  are  the  chief  defects  of  Chinese  labor.  And 
yet  it  requires  our  people  a considerable  time  to  become 


502 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


accustomed  to  the  strange-looking  race  who  go  so  quietly 
and,  as  some  unused  to  them  would  imagine,  slowly 
about  their  daily  tasks.  They  will  not  bear  goading  and 
harsh  language.  They  abhor  irritability  and  despise 
fitfulness.  They  rebel  against  irregular  hours  of  toil 
and  bad  and  insufficient  food.  When  cruelly  maltreated 
and  wronged  they  become  sullen,  and  at  last  burst  out 
in  acts  of  self-destruction  or  desperate  resistance — not 
vengeance,  properly,  for  they  do  not  nurse  revenge. 

To  this  grouping  of  the  better  and  worse  character- 
istics of  Chinese  labor  the  remark  must  be  added,  that 
the  individuals  of  it  differ  greatly  from  each  other.  We 
too  much  judge  nations  by  particular  people  of  them 
writh  whom  we  happen  to  be  acquainted.  There  are  as 
great  diversities  of  temperament  and  capaoity  to  be  found 
under  swarthy  as  under  white  skins. 

There  are  some  practical  difficulties  also  in  connection 
with  the  employment  of  the  Chinese.  One  is,  the  slow- 
ness and  labor  with  which  they  learn  our  language.  Its 
polysyllabic  character,  and  the  combination  of  several 
consonants  in  a single  syllable,  make  it  hard  for  them  to 
pronounce  it ; and  the  entire  dissimilarity  of  its  sounds 
from  those  by  which  they  represent  names  or  ideas 
makes  them  difficult  to  remember.  It  is  almost  as  hard 
for  them  to  learn  English  as  it  is  for  us  to  learn  Chinese. 
Yet  there  are  among  them  some  who  speak  English 
fluently  and  accurately.  Another  difficulty  sometimes 
arises  in  employing  them  from  their  clannish  dispo- 
sition. This  leads  them  to  act  in  concert  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  purposes,  and  to  indulge  hostility 
toward  their  countrymen  with  whom  they  are  at  feud. 

The  fields  for  the  application  of  Chinese  labor  in  this 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


503 


country  are  chiefly  those  of  agriculture,  manufactures, 
mining,  public  enterprises  and  the  wants  of  the  house- 
hold. 

Of  the  capacity  of  the  Chinese  as  domestic  servants  so 
much  has  been  said  that  I shall  add  to  what  has  been 
said  before  but  a word.  Their  characteristics  of  indus- 
try, economy  and  intelligence  must  make  them  a treasure 
in  many  an  American  home.  And  it  is  the  pleasant  ex- 
perience of  their  usefulness  in  families  which  has  made 
so  many  of  the  better  class  of  people  in  California  and 
the  neighboring  States  their  warm  friends,  and  impatient 
with  the  injuries  which  chiefly  low  white  foreigners  have 
inflicted  upon  them.  , 

In  agriculture  we  may  occupy  these  immigrants  in  em- 
ployments familiar  to  our  nation,  or  we  may  use  their 
knowledge  and  skill  to  introduce  new  products  and  pro- 
cesses. 

In  the  cultivation  of  the  cereals  the  farmers  have  been 
able  to  accomplish  a great  deal  toward  making  California 
a great  producing  and  exporting  State.  The  wheat  crop 
is  now  more  valuable  pecuniarily  to  the  State  than  the 
gold.  It  was  expected  that  the  surplus  alone  of  the 
produce  of  wheat  the  last  season  in  California  would  be 
sixteen  and  a half  millions  of  bushels,  that  there  would 
be  three  and  a half  millions  more  in  Oregon,  and  that 
these  twenty  millions  would  bring  in  from  abroad  not 
less  than  eighteen  millions  of  dollars.  Farmers  have 
introduced  other  remunerative  crops.  Hops  have  hand- 
somely rewarded  the  labors  of  some  of  them.  Fruits  have 
attained  a perfection  under  the  long-continued  and  un- 
clouded sun  of  California  such  as  is  nowhere  else  seen ; 
and  the  abundance  of  them  is  almost  beyond  belief. 


504 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tons  of  delicious  peaches  and  pears  last  summer  went  to 
rot  under  the  trees  in  many  orchards  around  the  bay  of 
San  Francisco  simply  because  there  were  such  quantities 
that  it  would  not  pay  to  bring  them  to  market.  With 
all  this  boundless  wealth  of  nature,  it  is  chiefly  Chinese 
labor  that  is,  and  must  be,  employed  to  carry  on  the 
various  processes  of  cultivation  and  the  garnering  of  the 
proceeds.  By  this  means  they  can  be  brought  within  the 
range  of  successful  competition  with  the  same  products 
in  the  markets  of  Europe  and  of  the  Atlantic  States. 
Without  this  labor  the  contest  may  as  well  be  given  up. 
No  doubt,  however,  the  time  is  coming  when  these  vege- 
table riches  will  prove  a boon  to  the  regions  less  favored 
of  the  skies.  The  fruits  of  the  Pacific  coast  especially 
will,  in  a variety  of  ways,  be  prepared  by  careful  Chi- 
nese fingers  for  safe  exportation,  and  be  distributed  over 
this  and  distant  lands. 

But  it  is  not  the  mere  toil  of  these  people  which  will 
profit  us.  They  have  for  ages  been  acquainted  with  the 
cultivation  of  plants  whose  products  form  the  most  valu- 
able constituents  of  the  wealth  of  nations.  Chief  among 
these  stand  cotton  and  silk. 

The  most  profitable  production  of  the  soil  of  the 
United  States  has  .been  cotton.  Southern  and  Eastern 
Asia  are  the  original  seats  of  the  culture  of  cotton.  It 
was  taken  from  Eastern  Asia  to  Persia  and  Arabia.  Our 
common  names  of  some  of  its  tissues  are  derived  from 
the  Chinese.  Nanking,  or  Nankeen,  the  ancient  capital, 
is  the  region  from  whence  the  most  substantial  web  has 
been  obtained. 

The  name  of  this  most  valuable  species  of  mallow  has 
been,  by  some  philologists,  derived  from  the  Arabic; 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


505 


but  we  may  look  for  it  with  more  probability  in  the  des- 
ignation of  the  district  of  Ivhoten,  in  the  western  extreme 
of  the  Chinese  dominions,  one  of  the  most  ancient  and 
fertile  spots  in  the  world.  The  name  is  but  slightly 
changed  to  Kustana  in  the  venerable  Sanscrit  language 
of  India.  The  word  Teat  has  passed  into  the  Chinese. 
-Marco  Polo  found  cotton  and  skillful  artisans  in  that 
region  six  hundred  years  ago.  He  says  that  in  the 
kingdom  of  Cotan  “ they  have  all  things  in  abundance, 
a large  supply  of  silk,  with  vineyards  and  good  orchards. 
They  carry  on  merchandise  and  manufactures,  but  are 
not  men-at-arms.”  They  still  pay  their  tribute  to  the 
emperor  of  China  in  home-grown  cotton,  and  a Chinese 
geographer  states  that  the  plant  in  that  country  “ covers 
the  fields  like  yellow  clouds.” 

The  favorite  cotton  region  of  China  is  the  alluvial 
valley  of  the  great  Yang-tsz-kiang  river,  which  is  some- 
what like  the  Sacramento  in  its  moist,  fat  soil  and  fre- 
quent inundations.  However,  it  is  also  cultivated  in 
Canton  province.  I have  made  inquiries,  and  find  there 
are  some  natives  of  that  province  in  California  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  process. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  some  intelligent  men  that 
California  is  unsuited  to  the  growth  of  cotton.  The 
sensitiveness  of  the  plant  to  cold,  the  dryness  of  the 
summer  winds  and  the  absence  of  dews  have  been  urged 
as  reasons  for  the  failure  of  some  experiments  in  raising 
it.  But  while  these  causes  may  hinder  the  cultivation 
of  some  favorite  varieties,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
other  varieties  have  been  found  indigenous  to  that  coast, 
and  which  formed  material  for  thread  and  cloth  before 
the  white  races  visited  it ; others  still  are  natives  of  the 


506 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


island  groups  of  the  Pacific,  where  they  grow  to  be  stout 
trees  a dozen  feet  in  height  and  some  inches  in  diameter, 
and  others  inhabit  Eastern  Asia,  which  though  less  re- 
munerative in  their  yield  or  choice  as  to  fibre,  yet  sup- 
ply hundreds  of  millions  of  pounds  to  those  nations, 
and  are  so  hardy  as  to  be  cultivated  upon  the  mountain 
sides  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  There  are  parts 
of  the  Pacific  coast  where  superior  cotton  has  been  found 
to  grow  well,  the  staple  being  long,  the  texture  strong 
and  the  appearance  silky;  and  competent  judges  in  the 
Southern  States  have  declared  that  specimens  shown 
them  have  been  of  a quality  superior  to  that  commonly 
seen  there.  Some  remarkably  fine  specimens  have  been 
sent  from  the  neighborhood  of  Los  Angelos. 

The  manufacture  of  the  cottons  for  the  insatiable 
markets  of  China  and  India  will  certainly  in  the  end 
find  its  centre  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America. 
It  is  a mere  question  of  time.  There  the  material,  the 
capital,  the  laborers  and  the  markets  most  naturally 
come  together.  The  most  far-seeing  minds  of  Great 
Britain  begin  to  regard  the  fact  with  anxiety.  They  are 
projecting  English  colonies  upon  Borneo,  New  Guinea 
and  other  tropical  islands,  where  the  same  advantages 
may  possibly  be  concentrated  in  the  hope  of  retaining 
the  predominent  national  advantages  of  this  trade  under 
their  own  control.  The  following  extract  is  taken  from 
an  article  which  appeared  a few  years  ago  in  the  London 
Times ; and  it  may  be  remarked  that  its  recommenda- 
tions have  engaged  the  attention  of  practical  English- 
men, who  are  endeavoring  to  carry  them  out  in  the 
islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  or  ocean  south  of  it. 
The  writer  says : 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


507 


“ The  various  places  hitherto  suggested  for  the  exten- 
sion of  cotton  cultivation — such  as  India,  the  west  coast 
of  Africa,  the  West  India  Islands,  etc. — may  always  be 
serviceable  as  an  auxiliary  supply,  but  it  will  never  be 
grown  in  sufficient  quantities  to  influence  the  market. 
By  the  plan  I propose,  cotton  may  be  grown  so  exten- 
sively that  the  short  and  inferior  qualities  would  be  only 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  paper,  for  which  there  is  a 
great  scarcity  of  material. 

“A  tropical  climate  is  undoubtedly  the  indigenous  and 
most  suitable  one  for  the  production  of  cotton,  the  plant 
being  perennial,  and  yielding  two  crops  annually ; 
whereas  in  the  Southern  States  of  America  the  plant  is 
annual,  one  crop  only  being  produced,  whi^h  is  liable  to 
injury  by  the  variableness  of  the  season.  The  requisites, 
therefore,  are  to  obtain  a large  tract  of  land  of  adequate 
fertility,  at  a nominal  value,  and  a plentiful  supply  of 
laborers  adapted  to  a tropical  climate,  who  would  work 
at  a moderate  rate  of  wages,  and  thereby  render  pro- 
duction as  remunerative  as  slave  labor.  The  great  field 
for  obtaining  tropical  laborers  is  China  (India  can  also 
furnish  a large  number  of  emigrants).  The  low  rate 
of  wages  they  obtain  in  their  own  country  makes  them 
admirably  adapted  to  compete  with  coerced  labor,  which 
they  will  eventually  supersede.  The  natural  disposition 
of  the  Chinese  to  emigrate  in  search  of  employment, 
which  they  cannot  obtain  in  their  own  country,  is  well 
known,  the  sugar  estates  in  Java,  the  gold  mines  of 
Borneo,  etc.,  being  worked  principally  by  Chinese  set- 
tlers; and  even  the  wilds  of  Australia  and  California 
have  long  abounded  with  these  enterprising  people. 
In  the  British  and  foreign  West  India  colonies  and 


508 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Brazil  many  have  been  imported,  though  the  expense 
of  transporting  them  such  a distance  is  very  great. 

“ The  large  island  of  New  Guinea,  or  one  of  the  adja- 
cent islands  to  the  north  of  Australia,  offers  the  greatest 
facility  for  the  establishment  of  a cotton  colony  on  the 
grandest  scale.  With  a fertile  soil,  and  within  a few 
days’  sail  of  China  and  India,  there  can  he  no  doubt  the 
most  extensive  and  rapid  colonization  would  take  place, 
and  that  in  a few  years  the  settlement  would  become  one 
of  the  most  flourishing  in  the  world.” 

This  English  writer  assumes  what  facts  do  not  sup- 
port— that  a tropical  climate  is  that  which  best  suits 
cotton.  The  cotton  of  tropical  Asia  and  Africa  has  not 
been  equal  to  that  of  Georgia  and  the  American  Gulf 
States ; and  in  China  the  cotton  of  Kiang-su  and  other 
provinces  about  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  river, 
in  lat.  31°  north,  is  preferred  to  that  of  the  coast  several 
hundred  miles  to  the  south.  On  our  Pacific  coast  there 
are  climatic  conditions  probably  as  favorable  to  its 
growth  as  those  which  exist  in  the  Gulf  States.  The  soil 
is  alluvial  and  rich.  The  location  is  in  the  great  line  of 
intercontinental  trade.  The  genius  of  the  people,  the 
certainty  of  commanding  the  best  improvements  in 
machinery,  and  the  presence  of  capital  at  the  fountain- 
head of  the  precious  metals,  are  pledges  of  success. 
And  the  labor  required  for  successful  cultivation, 
manipulation  and  the  work  of  the  mill  will  be  ob- 
tained from  the  natural  source  across  the  ocean  of  that 
which  is  among  the  cheapest  and  best  suited  to  these 
ends.  It  will  be  our  own  fault  if  that  region  of  our 
continent,  through  this  conjunction  of  advantages  in  re- 
spect to  the  supply  of  Eastern  Asia  with  manufactured 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


509 


cotton,  does  not  become  one  of  “ tbe  most  prosperous  in 
the  world.” 

There  is  another  textile  fabric  which  is  naturally  sug- 
gested to  the  mind  in  connection  with  cotton  ; it  clothes 
millions,  it  is  more  valuable  in  the  same  amount  than 
cotton,  and  its  great  source  has  been  the  empire  of 
China.  Were  it  possible  to  make  ours  a country  which 
should  largely  produce,  use  and  export  silk,  all  the  dis- 
advantages of  the  Chinese  immigration  would  be  indeed 
comparatively  incidental  and  easily  to  be  overlooked. 
China  is  emphatically  the  land  of  silk — the  name  was 
probably  derived  from  silk — and  silk  is  its  most  rich, 
beautiful  and  universally  cultivated  production.  Its 
exports  of  raw,  unmanufactured  silk  alone  are  worth  to 
the  nation  from  twenty  to  thirty  millions  of  dollars  a 
year.  Its  value  to  it  in  all  the  countless  forms  of  use 
cannot  be  estimated  in  money. 

California  possesses  extraordinary  advantages  for  the 
cultivation  of  silk,  among  which  are,  first,  the  climate. 
Some  of  the  best  French  silk-growers,  after  having 
thoroughly  examined  the  relative  adaptation  of  different 
parts  of  Europe,  Asia  and  America,  have  pronounced 
California  the  best  country  in  the  world  for  this  great 
department  of  industry.  The  chief  reason  is  the  regu- 
larity of  the  long  and  warm  summer,  with  the  entire 
absence  of  thunder  or  storms  during  the  month  of  June, 
when  the  worms  feed.  The  same  cause  has  much  to  do 
with  the  remarkable  freedom  of  the  worms  from  diseases 
which  carry  off  from  one-fourth  to  three-fourths  of  the 
entire  number  of  them  yearly  in  France.  Another  ad- 
vantage connected  with  the  climate  is  that  the  heat  of 
the  sun  in  summer  has  been  found  sufficient  to  hatch  in 


510 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


three  days  the  eggs  when  placed  under  roofs  exposed  to 
its  rays  and  properly  protected,  while  in  other  countries 
this  process  must  be  accomplished  by  means  of  artificial 
heat  and  with  much  expense  and  trouble. 

The  best  food  of  the  silkworm,  the  mulberry,  has  been 
found  to  flourish  remarkably  well  in  California.  The 
soil  is  so  rich  that  it  grows  and  leaves  with  great  luxuri- 
ance, without  the  cost  of  the  heavy  manuring  and  the 
amount  of  cultivation  required  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Some  of  the  silk-growers  have  also 
asserted  that  the  worm  in  California  produces  from  a 
third  to  a half  more  eggs  than  it  does  under  less  favor- 
able circumstances. 

The  cost  of  land  and  buildings  is  very  small  in  Cali- 
fornia compared  with  what  it  is  in  France  or  Italy. 
The  rent  of  an  acre  there  will  purchase  three  acres  here. 
And  there  is  here  no  need  of  the  heavy  and  extensive 
buildings  used  there. 

The  relative  cost  of  labor  is  a principal  item  of  advan- 
tage. It  has  been  ascertained  that  in  California  one 
attendant,  on  account  of  the  advantages  which  have  been 
described,  will  suffice  for  the  production  of  the  amount 
of  silk  which  would  require  in  France  eight  attendants. 
And  the  wages  for  which  the  Chinese  can  be  procured, 
who  understand  the  cultivation  of  silk  better  than  any 
other  nation  and  love  this  kind  of  quiet  and  regular  em- 
ployment, renders  it  certain  that  our  Pacific  coast  will  in 
the  future  be,  next  to  China,  one  of  the  largest  silk-pro- 
ducing countries  in  the  world. 

At  the  State  agricultural  fair  held  at  Sacramento  in 
September,  1869,  I saw  a fine  assortment  of  silk  in  all 
stages  of  advancement.  The  progress  of  this  interesting 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


511 


business  has  recently  been  very  rapid.  The  number  of 
mulberry  trees  in  the  State,  which  was  twenty  millions 
last  year,  had  multiplied  fivefold  within  three  years.  It 
was  estimated  that  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred 
millions  of  cocoons  would  be  produced.  The  State  en- 
couraged this  by  the  offer  of  a bounty  of  three  hundred 
dollars  for  each  hundred  thousand  good,  marketable 
cocoons,  and  an  award  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
for  each  plantation  of  five  thousand  trees  of  two  or  more 
years’  growth.  Individuals  were  embarking  actively  in 
the  culture  of  silk  in  the  central  and  southern  counties 
of  the  State.  A firm  at  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel  had 
made  a contract  to  hire  forty  Chinese  families  for  a 
period  of  four  years,  agreeing  to  furnish  to  each  family 
a small  house  and  garden,  which  would  become  its  prop- 
erty in  case  of  its  remaining  there.  Much  interest  is 
felt  in  the  success  of  a Japanese  colony  near  Placerville. 
A Dutch  gentleman,  Mr.  J.  H.  Schnell,  has  purchased 
there  two  thousand  acres  of  land  and  planted  upon  it  a 
colony  of  Japanese  at  his  own  expense.  He  had  been  a 
resident  of  the  principality  of  Aidzu,  and  interested  in 
the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  its  people.  The 
civil  war  having  unsettled  him,  he  determined  to  emi- 
grate to  California,  and  induced  these  families  to  accom- 
pany him.  They  have  built  twelve  houses  in  Japanese 
style  for  residences  and  places  for  the  care  of  silkworms 
and  the  weaving  of  the  fibre  into  various  fabrics  for  the 
California  market.  They  have  set  out  fifty  thousand 
mulberry  trees.  The  cocoons  exhibited  at  the  State  fair 
were  very  large  and  fine.  These  people  have  also  intro- 
duced tea,  bamboo,  oil  and  other  plants,  some  specimens 
of  which  were  shown  there. 


512 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


The  inquiry  is  often  made,  whether  the  Japanese  is 
not  a more  desirable  race,  as  relates  to  its  subserviency 
to  our  national  wants,  than  the  Chinese?  Perhaps  the 
conception  of  the  difference  between  them  may  be  made 
easy  to  most  persons  by  comparing  it  to  that  which  ex- 
ists between  the  French  nation  and  the  British.  The 
Japanese  are  more  quick,  nervous,  susceptible  and  easy 
in  their  intercourse.  But  they  are  more  volatile,  more 
petulant  and  quarrelsome  and  more  licentious.  The  im- 
morality of  Japanese  society  is  shocking  to  the  better 
class  of  Chinese,  and  they  so  speak  of  it  in  emphatic  lan- 
guage. The  Japanese  have  taken  what  is  best  in  their 
literature  from  the  Chinese  classics,  teach  Confucius  in 
their  schools  and  speak  the  Chinese  as  a polite  language 
in  their  wealthy  families.  And  they  distinctly  recog- 
nize the  superiority  of  the  empire,  of  which  their  own  is 
but  a satellite,  in  their  writings.  Some  of  the  Japanese 
will  come  to  this  country,  and  should  be  welcomed,  to 
learn  here  the  arts  and  the  wisdom  of  which  Providence 
has  made  us  the  repository  and  the  almoners.  But  it  is 
chiefly  the  Chinese  who  can  repay  to  our  nation  any- 
thing like  benefits  equivalent  to  those  we  may  com- 
municate. 

A feature  of  the  production  of  silk  which  has  within 
a few  years  attracted  much  attention  in  Europe  is  that 
of  the  variety  of  moths  which  have  been  found  to  form 
the  characteristic  fibre.  One  of  these  is  the  ailanthus 
silkworm  ( Bombyx  cynthia),  which  had  been  described 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  by  French  mission- 
aries in  China,  but  was  brought  before  the  attention  of 
the  Italian  silk-growers  by  Fantoni,  a missionary  from 
Piedmont,  in  1856.  M.  Guerin  Meneville  satisfied  him- 


* 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


513 


self  of  its  value,  and  introduced  it  widely  and  successfully 
in  France.  The  emperor  Napoleon  lias  exhibited  warm 
interest  in  the  business.  The  advantages  of  the  fibre 
over  that  of  the  common  worm  ( Bombyx  mori ),  which 
feeds  upon  the  mulberry,  are  that  the  tree  ( Ailanthus 
glandulosa ) which  sustains  the  worm  is  very  common 
and  hardy,  and  grows  even  upon  sterile  soil ; the  moth 
itself  is  not  tender  and  subject  to  diseases  like  the  other, 
and  is  not  affected  by  wind  and  rain  ; the  product  is  more 
strong  and  durable ; and  the  goods  manufactured  from  it 
will  be  much  cheaper  than  ordinary  silk,  though  not  so 
brilliant  in  color.  Another  species  of  silk  has  still  more 
recently  been  manufactured  in  France.  It  was  obtained 
from  the  Japanese  Tusseh  moth  (Anther cea  yama-mai), 
also  through  the  efforts  of  M.  Guerin  Meneville.  It  is 
of  a brown  color,  wanting  in  lustre,  but  very  firm  and 
durable.  It  is  easily  wound  from  the  cocoon,  and  can  be 
worked  to  great  advantage  with  cotton  or  wool.  Experi- 
ments were  made  in  California  as  to  the  usefulness  of 
the  Saturnia  ceanotha,  a silkworm  feeding  upon  a shrub 
( Ceanothus ) common  upon  the  hills.  Other  species 
adapted  to  our  use  will,  it  is  supposed,  be  brought  to 
light  in  the  course  of  our  increased  acquaintance  with 
those  empires  in  which  the  manufacture  of  silk  was  a 
subject  of  universal  interest  for  many  centuries  before 
our  forefathers  and  the  Romans  and  Greeks  ever  knew 
of  the  existence  of  this  royal  material.  We  will  thus 
discover  what  will  be  suitable  to  the  varieties  of  the 
climate  ^of  our  extended  country  and  open  up  sources 
of  wealth  to  every  portion  of  it. 

The  English  in  India,  having  succeeded  so  well  in  the 
culture  of  cotton  and  tea,  have  turned  their  attention  to 

33 


514 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


that  of  silk.  Various  species  of  silk-producing  moths 
have  been  long  known  in  that  country.  The  following 
interesting  description  is  given  of  those  in  India,  China 
and  America,  together  with  some  hints  that  may  be  use- 
ful to  us,  by  the  entomologists  Kirby  and  Spence:1 
“ The  most  important  species  known  are  the  Tusseh  and 
Arindy  silkworms.  These  insects  are  both  natives  of 
Bengal.  The  first  (Saturnia  paphia,  Linn.)  feeds  upon 
the  leaves  of  the  jujube  tree,  or  Iyer  of  the  Hindus,  and 
upon  the  Terminalia  alata  glabra  (Roxburgh),  the  as- 
seen  of  the  Hindus,  and  is  found  in  such  abundance  as 
from  time  immemorial  to  have  afforded  a constant  sup- 
ply of  very  durable,  coarse,  dark-colored  silk,  which  is 
woven  into  a cloth  called  tusseh-doof hies,  much  worn 
by  the  Brahmins  and  other  sects,  and  which  would  be 
highly  useful  to  the  inhabitants  of  many  parts  of 
America  and  the  south  of  Europe,  where  a light  and 
cool,  and  at  the  same  time  a cheap  and  durable,  dress, 
such  as  this  silk,  furnishes,  is  much  wanted.  The  dura- 
bility of  this  silk  is  really  astonishing,  as  after  constant 
use  for  nine  or  ten  years  it  does  not  show  the  least  ap- 
pearance of  decay.  These  insects  are  thought  by  the 
natives  of  so  much  consequence  that  they  guard  them 
by  day  to  preserve  them  from  crows  and  other  birds, 
and  by  night  from  the  bats.  The  Arindy  silkworm 
(Saturnia  cynthia,  Drury),  which  feeds  solely  on  the 
leaves  of  the  palma  christi,  produces  remarkably  soft 
cocoons,  the  silk  of  which  is  so  delicate  and  flossy  that 
it  is  impracticable  to  wind  it  off ; it  is  therefore  spun 
like  cotton,  and  the  thread  thus  manufactured  is  woven 
into  a coarse  kind  of  white  cloth  of  a loose  texture,  but 

1 Introduction  to  Entomology  (Phila.  ed.  from  6th  London),  pp.  224,  225. 


CHINESE  LABOR 


515 


of  still  more  incredible  durability  than  the  last,  the  life- 
time of  one  person  being  seldom  sufficient  to  wear  out  a 
garment  made  of  it.  It  is  used  not  only  for  clothing, 
but  for  packing  fine  cloths,  etc.  Some  manufacturers  in 
England  to  whom  the  silk  was  shown  seemed  to  think 
that  it  could  there  be  made  into  shawls  equal  to  any  re- 
ceived from  India.  A moth  allied  to  this  last  species,  but 
distinct,  has  been  described  and  figured  by  Col.  Sykes, 
who  met  with  its  leather-like  cocoons  composed  of  silk  so 
strong  that  a single  filament  supported  a 'weight  of  a hun- 
dred and  ninety-eight  grains.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
but  that  silk  might  be  advantageously  produced  from  it, 
as  the  caterpillars  which  spin  it  feed  indiscriminately  on 
the  teak  tree,  the  mulberry,  the  bor  (Zizypkus  jujuba) 
and  the  osana  ( Terminalia  alata  glabra). 

“ Other  species  are  known  in  China.  ‘ We  have  ob- 
tained,’ says  the  writer  of  a letter  in  Young’s  Annals  of 
Agriculture , ‘ a monthly  silkworm  from  China,  which 
I reared  with  my  own  hands,  and  in  twenty-five  days 
have  had  the  cocoons  in  my  basins,  and  by  the  twenty- 
ninth  or  thirty-first  day  a new  progeny  feeding  in  my 
trays.  This  makes  it  a mine  to  whoever  would  under- 
take the  cultivation  of  it.’ 

“ There  seems  no  question  that  silk  might  be  advan- 
tageously derived  from  many  native  silkworms  in 
America.  An  account  is  given  in  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  (v.  325)  of  one  found  there  whose 
cocoon  is  not  only  heavier  and  more  productive  than 
that  of  the  common  kind,  but  is  so  much  stronger  that 
twenty  threads  will  carry  an  ounce  more.”  The  authors 
proceed  to  notice  several  moths  known  in  various  parts 
of  North  and  South  America  and  the  West  Indies  whose 


516 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


silk  lias  been  wrought  into  clothing,  handkerchiefs,  paste- 
board and  other  articles. 

These  writers1  make  a suggestion  in  regard  to  the 
manufacture  of  other  articles  besides  the  thread  and  its 
manufactured  products  from  the  silkworm,  which  will 
be  interesting  to  some  of  our  own  people.  They  say : 

“ It  is  probable,  too,  that  other  articles  besides  silk 
might  be  obtained  from  the  larvte  which  usually  produce 
it,  particularly  cements  and  varnishes  of  various  kinds, 
some  hard,  others  elastic,  from  their  gum  and  silk  reser- 
voirs ; from  which  it  is  said  the  Chinese  procure  a fine 
varnish,  and  fabricate  what  is  called  by  anglers  Indian 
grass.  The  diminutive  size  of  the  animal  will  be  thought 
no  objection  when  we  recollect  that  the  very  small 
quantity  of  purple  dye  afforded  by  the  Purpura  of  the 
ancients  did  not  prevent  them  from  collecting  it.” 

An  English  company  was  formed  for  the  development 
of  the  supply  of  silk  from  India  and  other  colonial  pos- 
sessions, after  the  attention  of  the  people  had  been 
turned  to  the  importance  of  this  business  by  the  Paris 
Exposition.  It  was  styled  the  Silk  Supply  Association. 
Its  objects  are  thus  stated:  “1.  To  stimulate  the  pro- 
duction of  silk,  by  cottage  cultivation  and  otherwise,  in 
every  country  where  the  mulberry  tree  is  capable  of 
giving  food  to  the  silkworm.  2.  To  encourage  the  in- 
troduction and  exchange  of  the  eggs  of  the  best  kind  of 
silkworms  in  silk-producing  districts.  3.  To  offer  prac- 
tical suggestions  and  encouragement  to  the  producers  of 
silk  for  improving  the  quality  and  securing  a better 
classification,  and  for  ensuring  greater  care  in  the  reeling 
of  the  silk.  4.  To  promote  the  cultivation  of  silk  in 

1 Kikby  and  Spence,  p.  226. 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


517 


the  various  silk-producing  districts  in  India  where  the 
production  of  silk  has  not  recently  increased,  and  in 
other  districts  of  India  where  the  cultivation  of  the  silk- 
worm has  almost  ceased,  but  which  are  known  to  possess 
special  advantages,  by  the  growth  of  the  mulberry  tree 
and  the  habits  of  the  people,  for  its  propagation.  5.  To 
promote  the  exportation  of  cocoons  from  countries  not 
well  able  to  reel  them.  6.  To  communicate  with  the 
foreign,  colonial  and  Indian  departments  of  Her  Majes- 
ty’s Government,  and  to  obtain  the  aid  of  the  English 
representatives  in  the  British  colonies  and  consular 
agents  in  all  foreign  countries  to  promote  and  extend  the 
cultivation  of  silk.” 

American  naturalists  in  the  Atlantic  States  have 
sought  for  such  kinds  of  native  moths  as  might  be  made 
useful  in  the  manufacture  of  silk.  Dr.  Barton,  of  Phila- 
delphia, made  some  interesting  experiments  upon  various 
native  caterpillars  which  are  found  in  the  woods  of 
Pennsylvania.  Dr.  D.  Bethune  McCartee,  an  American 
medical  missionary  at  Ningpo,  in  China,  when  on  a visit 
to  this  country  recognized  an  American  moth  as  the  same 
with  one  from  which  large  quantities  of  pongee  silk  are 
made  in  the  northern  parts  of  that  empire.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  Jaeger  and  others  that  other  American  moths, 
such  as  Cecropia  luna,  Polyphemus  and  Promethea,  will 
be  employed  in  supplying  coarse  silk.  The  fibre  ob- 
tained from  them  may  be  made  into  goods  of  great 
strength  and  durability,  which  may  be  worn  for  several 
years.  It  will  be  a strange  thing  indeed  if  the  practical 
and  inventive  genius  of  our  country  will  long  allow 
sources  of  national  wealth,  which  are  turned  to  so  much 
advantage  in  India  and  China,  to  lie  uncultivated. 


518 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE 


The  manufacture  of  silk  has  been  fairly  begun  in 
various  parts  of  the  United  States.  Thirty  years  ago 
much  attention  was  directed  to  the  subject,  and  a fever 
of  speculation  in  a species  of  mulberry  ( Morus  multi - 
caulis),  which  is  one  of  the  best  kinds  of  food  for  the 
worm,  swept  over  the  country  and  enriched  a few,  but 
unfortunately  left  far  more  persons  impoverished  and 
disgusted. 

A few  factories,  however,  in  various  States  were  kept 
in  operation ; sufficient  to  show  the  practicability  of 
maintaining  the  business  in  this  country.  One  of  them, 
which  I visited  with  much  interest  thirty  years  ago,  was 
that  at  Economy,  on  the  Ohio  river,  below  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania,  where  the  work  was  carried  on  by  a 
secluded  and  semi-monastic  sect  of  Germans,  with  entire 
success.  The  census  returns  of  1860  show  that  there 
were  in  that  year  four  hundred  and  fifteen  silk  manu- 
factories in  the  United  States ; of  which  Connecticut  had 
one  hundred  and  forty-four,  New  Jersey  one  hundred 
and  thirteen,  New  York  eighty,  Pennsylvania  twenty- 
eight,  Massachusetts  thirty-six,  New  Hampshire  seven, 
Kentucky  four  and  California  three.  The  amount  of 
capital  invested  in  the  business  was  estimated  to  be  two 
millions  of  dollars.  This  has  rapidly  increased.  It  was 
supposed,  in  1865,  that  the  capital  invested  was  about 
five  millions  of  dollars. 

The  men  and  women  engaged  in  the  silk  factories  are 
at  present  principally  Europeans.  It  is  supposed  that 
there  are  between  fifty  and  eighty  thousand  of  them. 
The  American  Emigration  Company  has  agents  in  the 
seats  of  silk  manufacture  to  select  and  forward  them  to 
this  country.  It  is  a work  well  adapted  to  females,  being 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


519 


clean  and  not  laborious.  In  one  trimming  factory  in 
New  York,  out  of  three  hundred  employes  about  fifty 
only  are  men.  This  factory  pays  six  thousand  dollars 
per  month  in  wages.  Another  factory  employs  women 
in  nearly  all  departments.  They  tend  the  looms  and  do 
most  of  the  spinning,  winding  and  warping.  Out  of 
fifteen  hundred  hands,  more  than  two-thirds  are  women. 
The  wages  paid  are  high  : to  men  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
four  dollars  a week,  to  women  from  four  to  ten  dollars. 

Even  at  these  rates,  which  are  three  times  what  are 
paid  in  Europe,  we  have  been  able,  with  the  advantage 
of  a duty  of  sixty  per  cent,  and  the  difference  of  freight, 
insurance  and  exchange,  successfully  to  compete  with 
foreign  silk.  A single  establishment  in  Connecticut  now 
produces  annually  six  hundred  thousand  yards  of  dress 
silks,  comprising  gros  grains,  poplins,  foulards  and  pon- 
gees ; of  belt  ribbons  one  hundred  thousand  pieces  are 
produced,  and  this  factory  still  further  turns  out  each 
year  sixty  thousand  pounds  of  “ thrawn”  and  an  equal 
quantity  of  “ spun”  silk.  Large  quantities  of  silk  dress 
goods  are  also  made  at  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  and  at 
various  points  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Foreign 
sewing-silks  and  fine  dress  trimmings  are  being  crowded 
out  of  our  markets.  The  latter  materials  are  at  present 
manufactured  at  thirty  establishments  in  Philadelphia, 
and  the  former  article  is  produced  elsewhere  in  very 
large  quantities. 

The  attention  of  the  silk  manufacturers  of  Europe  has 
of  late  been  strongly  turned  to  the  advantages  offered 
them  in  this  country.  Projects  have  been  entered  into 
to  form  colonies  in  the  Western  and  other  States  to  carry 
on  their  business.  One  of  these,  in  Kansas,  has  so  far 


520 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


made  progress  as  to  authorize  the  French  gentleman 
most  interested  to  send  back  flattering  inducements  for 
his  countrymen  to  join  him. 

But  a few  years  will  pass  before  the  Chinese  will  be 
dispersed  over  the  Mississippi  valley  and  Western  and 
Southern  States,  and  the  manufacture  of  the  several 
practicable  varieties  of  silk  will  be  carried  on,  by  what- 
soever advantages  their  knowledge  and  capacity  for  such 
labor  afford,  in  other  portions  of  our  country  besides 
California.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  the  tens 
of  millions  of  dollars  which  we  annually  pay  to  Eng- 
land, France  and  other  European  nations  for  this  fabric 
may  not  be  expended  in  enriching  our  own  land. 

There  are  other  textile  plants,  the  value  of  which  is 
yet  to  be  determined  by  experiment,  that  furnish  the 
Chinese  with  fine  raiment.  One  of  them  is  the  hemp 
nettle  ( Urtica  nivea),  which  grows  several  feet  high  and 
yields  three  crops  in  the  course  of  the  year,  between 
June  and  October.  It  supplies,  by  boiling,  pounding 
and  bleaching,  the  principal  material  for  the  beautiful 
“ grass-cloth,”  resembling  our  linen,  though  more  bright 
in  texture  and  pearly  in  color,  which  the  Chinese  wear 
in  the  summer,  and  call  liia-po,  or  “summer-cloth.” 
There  is  a creeper  ( Dolichos  bulbosus ) which  gives  to  the 
poor  a strong  yellowish  fibre  suitable  for  more  common 
uses.  But  these  materials  of  agricultural  and  manufac- 
turing  wealth  can  only  be  hinted  at  here.1  English 
botanists  are  inquiring  into  the  character  of  some  of 

1 A new  textile  plant,  the  Ramie  ( Boehmeria  tenacissima),  is  now  attracting 
much  attention.  It  resembles  hemp,  nettle  and  other  Urticacece,  and  it  is  claimed 
that  it  is  “as  fine,  as  white  and  twice  as  durable  as  flax,  and  more  productive 
than  cotton,  arid  will  sell  for  twice  the  price  of  cotton.”  It  was  brought  from 
Java  to  France  in  1844.  It  grows  well  in  the  Gulf  States  and  parallel  latitudes. 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


521 


tliem,  and  introducing  those  most  suitable  into  their  own 
colonies.  The  Chinese  manufacture  paper  out  of  a 
variety  of  materials,  some  of  which  may  prove  useful  to 
us.  The  bamboo  is  the  most  common,  and  I have  seen 
beautiful  paper  made  of  it  by  mills  in  this  country. 
There  is  a curious  plant  which  has  been  styled  the 
“ Nepal  paper  plant,”  which  has  been  used  for  centuries 
in  China  and  some  of  the  countries  west  of  it.  It  has 
been  said  by  a British  botanist  (Dr.  Campbell)  that  it 
makes  a paper  “ as  strong  and  durable  as  leather  almost, 
and  quite  smooth  enough  to  write  on,  and  for  office 
records  incomparably  better  than  any  India  paper.” 

The  practicability  of  introducing  or  cultivating 
through  Chinese  labor  the  numerous  esculents  and 
beverages  of  the  Oriental  world  cannot  be  more  than 
briefly  alluded  to  in  this  volume.  The  question  of  the 
cultivation  of  tea  in  this  country  is  one  which  has  long 
interested  our  botanists  and  horticulturists.  There  is 
nothing  to  prevent  it  in  respect  to  climate.  The  best 
Chinese  tea  comes  from  between  latitudes  25°  and  33°, 
but  it  grows  down  to  the  tropical  shores  of  the  China 
sea  on  one  extreme,  and  in  the  mountain  regions  amid 
heavy  snows  on  the  other.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  best 
judges  that  good  tea  can  be  produced  in  almost  any 
climate  here  south  of  New  England.  The  plant  loves 
, broken  hillsides,  a light  soil,  the  neighborhood  of  streams 
and  a good  deal  of  moisture.  The  smooth,  dark-colored, 
leathery,  serrated  leaf  is  best  when  plucked  from  shrubs 
between  four  and  seven  feet  in  height.  But  the  plant 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  rises  to  five  or 
six  times  that  height,  with  leaves  proportionably  large, 
but  too  rank  for  use.  There  are  many  parts  of  the 


522 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


United  States  where  it  could  be  easily  grown.  The  prep- 
aration of  the  leaf  for  commercial  uses  is  performed  at 
an  expense  of  time  and  labor  in  China  which  would  be 
intolerable  to  any  other  nation.  The  cost  of  the  finest 
tea  there  is  more  than  twenty  dollars  a pound ; but  that 
is  confined  to  a few  fancy  kinds,  which  our  uncultivated 
taste  could  scarce  distinguish  from  others  of  one-tenth 
the  price.  The  results  of  all  the  manipulation  by  the 
Chinese,  it  is  believed  by  gentlemen  who  have  thoroughly 
examined  its  processes,  could  be  readily  secured  by  ma- 
chinery, so  that  we  could  in  time  afford  to  produce  our 
own  tea. 

The  success  of  the  British  in  raising  tea  in  Assam  is 
encouraging  to  us.  In  the  year  1834  they  began  to  cul- 
tivate the  wild  plant  which  had  been  found  growing 
abundantly  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Brahmapootra  river. 
The  results  induced  them  to  form  joint-stock  companies 
for  its  enlargement  in  England  and  India.  Chinese  la- 
borers and  workmen  were  imported,  who  taught  Hindu 
coolies.  The  difficulties  and  outlays  connected  with  new 
and  extensive  enterprises  in  a wild  region  several  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  sea  have  been  fully  met.  A few 
years  ago  sixty  companies  were  there  engaged  in  tea- 
culture.  A large  territory  has  become  populous  and  ani- 
mated with  life,  industry  and  civilization  through  this 
new  source  of  colonial  wealth.  The  Europeans  are  intro- 
ducing tea  into  other  parts  of  Northern  India,  but  their 
families  are  chiefly  supplied  with  the  article  from  As- 
sam ; and  the  exports  to  England  from  the  latter  region 
have  become  considerable  and  will  be  rapidly  increased. 

The  tea  plant  is  cultivated  in  Java  and  other  islands 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  in  Brazil  and  some 


CHIXESE  LABOR. 


523 


other  countries.  Twenty  years  ago  it  was  raised  in  our 
Southern  States.  Dr.  Junius  Smith  found  it  would 
grow  well  in  South  Carolina.  There  is  no  reason  why 
so  valuable  a plant  may  not  be  domesticated  in  many 
other  parts  of  our  country,  particularly  in  the  South. 

There  have  been  found  in  various  parts  of  Asia  more 
than  a hundred  and  thirty  kinds  of  rice.  Those  com- 
monly used  by  the  people  of  Canton  province  they 
greatly  prefer  to  what  we  raise  in  the  Carolinas,  though 
smaller  and  more  yellow,  on  the  ground  that  they  are 
more  palatable  and  nutritive.  Sugar  is  manufactured 
by  the  Chinese  in  immense  quantities  and  by  economical 
processes,  much  of  it  by  voluntary  crystallization.  It  is 
never  produced  from  the  sorghum,  which  has  been  found 
so  useful  in  the  United  States,  but  is  there  only  known 
in  a few  localities,  chiefly  as  furnishing  cane  for  chewing. 
Numerous  valuable  fruits  may  be  transplanted  from  Asia 
to  the  soil  of  the  New  World.  The  finest  ground  or 
peanuts  sold  at  the  stands  in  the  streets  of  the  Atlantic 
cities  are  from  the  Pacific  coast,  but  it  is  not  yet  known 
here  that  the  most  abundant  and  cheap  oil  of  the  Chi- 
nese, used  like  that  of  the  olive  of  Europe  for  food  and 
burned  in  the  lamps  for  light,  is  obtained  from  this 
nut.1 

No  vegetable  gift  of  the  Old  World  to  the  New  will 
be  more  truly  valuable  than  the  bamboo.  It  will  meet 
some  of  the  greatest  wants  of  the  prairies  and  plains.  It 

1 The  cultivation  of  this  plant,  both  for  eating  and  for  oil,  is  attracting  much 
attention  in  the  South.  Portions  of  the  lowlands  of  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina have  been  more  remuneratively  devoted  to  this  than  to  any  other  crop. 
In  1868  it  was  estimated  that  sixty-two  thousand  bushels  were  sold  and  shipped ; 
in  1869  perhaps  one-fourth  more  than  that  amount,  the  prices  ranging  from  one 
dollar  and  forty  to  two  dollars  and  sixty  cents  a bushel,  according  to  the  quality. 


524 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


is  employed  iu  various  parts  of  tlie  world  for  fences, 
grows  rapidly  in  brakes  and  affords  a nutritious  food, 
when  young,  to  cattle.  There  are  many  very  different 
varieties,  unlike  in  color,  size  and  grain,  and  adapted  to 
many  valuable  purposes.  Poles,  ropes,  furniture,  tubes, 
paper,  cups  and  a thousand  useful  and  ornamental  things 
are  made  out  of  the  bamboo.  On  the  land  and  on  the 
water  its  uses  are  almost  beyond  description.  It  has 
seemed  to  me  in  looking  at  the  cane-brakes  of  the  South 
that  Providence  has  already  supplied  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  and  our  Southern  States  with  a plant  which 
in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  must  prove  valuable  in 
coming  days.  The  “cane”  ( Arundinaria  macrosperma) , 
though  of  a different  botanical  order  from  the  bamboo 
(Bambusa  arundinacea) , possesses  some  of  its  most  useful 
qualities.  The  hard  silicious  surface,  the  long  straight 
rods,  the  hollow  tubes  of  various  sizes,  the  edible  sprouts, 
suggest  a great  abundance  of  applications. 

The  capacity  of  the  Chinese  to  adapt  themselves  to 
our  wants  as  laborers  and  workmen  has  been  fully 
proved.  In  the  factories  of  various  kinds,  at  San  Fran- 
cisco and  elsewhere  on  the  coast,  they  work  with  the 
endurance  of  men  united  to  the  nimbleness  and  facility 
of  our  women  in  similar  occupations.  They  are  equal 
to  the  severe  labors  of  foundries,  brick-yards,  rope- 
walks  and  tanneries.  They  may  be  seen  busily  wrapping 
the  tobacco  leaf  into  cigars  and  cigarettes,  or  plying  the 
sewing-machine  to  manufacture  flannel  shirts,  or  cutting 
and  stitching  light  slippers  for  the  American  trade. 

The  Chinese  upon  our  Pacific  coast  have  proved  them- 
selves admirable  miners.  When  the  hostility  of  white 
foreigners  has  driven  them  out  of  the  better  mining 


/ 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


525 


regions,  or  compelled  them  to  remain  satisfied  with  dig- 
gings which  have  already  been  washed  over  two  or  three 
times,  they  have  still  toiled  patiently  and  diligently. 
During  the  dry  season,  while  most  others  were  lying 
idle,  they  might  be  seen  making  repairs,  digging  and 
collecting  the  dirt  into  the  best  situations  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  coming  rise  of  water,  or  at  other  work.  In 
the  employment  of  our  peojde  they  have  proved  of  great 
value  at  quartz-mining.  Rock  which  could  not  be 
worked  by  white  labor,  with  wages  at  seven  to  three 
dollars  a day,  can  be  made  profitable  when  Chinese  can 
be  got  to  extract  the  ore  and  deliver  it  at  the  mill  at  two 
dollars  or  less.  Thus  districts  which  had  been  almost 
abandoned  have  revived  and  all  classes  of  the  population 
been  directly  benefited.  For  although  the  laboring 
class  of  whites  objected  to  the  low  wages  paid  to  the 
Chinese,  yet  the  possibility  of  carrying  on  mining  op- 
erations furnished  themselves  with  other  and  better  em- 
ployments, and  so  sustained  life  in  the  community. 
And  the  mining  licenses,  of  four  dollars  each  per  month, 
which  have  been  exacted  with  scrupulous  punctuality 
and  faithfulness  to  duty — nay,  sometimes,  that  the  col- 
lector might  be  sure  he  was  on  the  safe  side,  two  or  three 
times  in  the  same  month — have  in  some  counties  paid  the 
entire  ordinary  expenses  of  the  county,  whose  treasury 
would  otherwise  have  been  bankrupt. 

The  public  enterprises  which  are  covering  the  Pacific 
coast  with  the  peculiar  advantages  of  modern  civilization 
are  to  a large  degree  the  fruit  of  the  patient  and  cheap 
labor  of  the  Chinese,  either  hired  there  or  induced  to 
come  by  the  offers  of  a liberal  recompense  published  in 
their  own  seaports.  The  roads  among  the  mountains, 


526 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  leveling  of  the  rugged  and  broken  streets  of  various 
cities  and  towns,  the  introduction  of  pure  water  from 
distant  streams  into  these  places,  the  reclamation  of 
swamp  or  overflowed  lands  and  similar  important  enter- 
prises, have  owed  their  projection  and  success  mainly  to 
the  fact  that  there  were  thousands  of  laborers  to  be  pro- 
cured at  rates  which  would  render  the  outlay  of  capital 
remunerative. 

The  construction  of  railroads  has  given  employment 
to  eight  or  ten  thousand  Chinese  at  a time.  But  for  the 
opportunity  to  perform  this  work  by  Chinese  labor,  it  is 
declared  by  the  directors  of  the  Central  Pacific  Bailroad 
that  they  would  not  have  dared  to  undertake  it.  The 
usual  wages  paid  is  thirty  dollars  a month.  In  the 
ordinary  grading  and  other  labor  they  are  equal  to 
whites.  They  work  cheerfully  eleven  hours  a day. 
They  are  never  drunk  one  day  and  good  for  nothing  the 
next.  There  is  no  fighting.  An  overseer  who  had  had 
much  experience  with  them  told  me  that  their  quiet, 
steady  way  of  working  accomplished  full  as  much  as 
that  of  any  other  laborers,  and  without  driving  and  bad 
temper.  The  route  of  the  Central  Pacific  road,  extend- 
ing from  Salt  Lake  to  Sacramento,  lies  chiefly  among 
the  mountains,  with  steep  grades  and  numerous  tunnels. 
That  at  the  summit  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  seven  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  sea  and  a hundred  and  five  miles 
east  of  Sacramento,  is  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet 
long.  The  tunnel  at  Emigrant  Gap,  near  Cisco,  is  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length  ; there  are  others,  longer 
or  shorter.  They  are  all  cut  wide  enough  for  a double 
track.  A competent  engineer  stated  that  in  this  heavy 
and  laborious  “ rock-work,”  requiring  patience  and  care, 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


527 


the  Chinese  were  the  best  hands  that  could  be  obtained. 
The  vice-president  of  the  company  said  that  he  wished 
they  had  twice  as  many  Chinese  in  their  employ  as  they 
had  been  able  to  get. 

When  one  considers  the  immense  amount  of  labor 
which  must  be  performed  in  laying  down  the  railroads 
that  are  necessary  to  open  up  the  incalculably  vast  min- 
eral resources  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  on  the 
Pacific  slope  and  in  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  to 
transport  them  to  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  sea-ports,  the 
presence  of  a race  so  accessible  and  so  capable  as  the 
Chinese  impresses  the  mind  as  a divine  providence  ap- 
pointed to  meet  this  national  want.  No  other  nation 
could  furnish  the  supply  required.  And  these  people 
seem  to  possess  just  the  qualities  we  need  in  such  labor. 

The  supposition  that  the  Chinese  are  a class  who  work 
for  wages  not  sufficient  to  maintain  laboring  men  com- 
fortably, and  who  subsist  upon  cheap  and  refuse  food,  is 
unfounded.  In  the  towns  they  certainly  are  fond  of 
good  living,  and  the  costly  dinners  to  which  they  have 
•invited  their  friends  in  California  have  been  often  de- 
scribed in  our  newspapers.  In  frequent  visits  to  the 
mining  regions  I made  it  a point  to  satisfy  myself  upon 
this  subject.  I sought  also  the  testimony  of  gentlemen 
extensively  acquainted  with  them.  A couple  of  extracts 
from  the  numerous  letters  which  I received  will  set  the 
truth,  which  it  is  important  for  our  people  to  know,  in 
its  proper  light. 

A merchant  doing  a large  business  in  one  of  the 
principal  cities  of  the  interior  wrote  as  follows : “ It  is 
impossible  for  me  to  give  an  accurate  estimate  of  the 
amount  of  goods  sold  in  this  city  to  Chinamen.  I have 


528 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


conversed  with  several  of  the  mountain  merchants,  and 
they  give  it  as  their  opinion  that  more  than  three-fourths 
of  their  sales  to  Chinamen  are  for  American  products. 
Almost  every  merchant  in  the  mines  has  more  or  less 
Chinese  trade,  and  a good  many  of  them  are  dependent 
almost  entirely  on  them  for  their  business.  The  following 
are  the  kind  of  goods,  provisions,  etc.,  they  consume  the 
most  of:  potatoes,  cabbage,  pork,  chickens,  flour  and 
almost  every  article  of  vegetables  raised  in  this  State ; 
they  buy  clothing,  shoes,  boots,  blankets,  American  bran- 
dy, whisky,  gin,  hams,  beans,  lard,  codfish,  lobsters  and 
almost  every  article  of  American  production  to  some 
extent.  As  they  become  Americanized,  the  demand  for 
American  products  increases  with  them.  Their  trade  is 
valuable,  being  almost  entirely  cash.  They  are  generally 
prompt  in  meeting  their  contracts.  They  are  shrewd 
and  close  dealers,  but  spend  their  money  freely  for  luxu- 
ries and  comforts.  It  is  said  when  a Chinaman  does  not 
live  well  it  is  because  he  has  not  the  money  to  procure 
such  as  he  would  like.  The  Chinamen  say  that  the  es- 
timate is  made  that  they  spend  in  the  country  seven- 
tenths  on  an  average  of  all  the  money  they  make. 
Dealers  with  them  in  the  mines  are  of  the  opinion  that 
their  estimate  is  nearly  correct ; it  is  the  opinion,  at  least, 
of  those  I have  conversed  with.” 

A professional  gentleman  whose  pursuits  led  him  to 
travel  widely  over  the  State  wrote  to  me  as  follows: 
“In  frequent  journeys  extending  from  the  head  waters 
of  the  Feather  to  the  Merced,  I can  say  I have  reason 
to  believe  that  among  the  American  mining  population 
there  is  no  other  class  of  foreign  miners  who  do  not  speak 
our  language  who  sustain  so  high  a character  for  industry, 


CHINESE  LABOR. 


529 


honesty  and  direct  patronage  of  American  productions 
and  enterprise.  I have  often  inquired  of  merchants  as 
to  their  business  with  the  Chinese,  and  almost  always 
been  answered  that  their  trade  was  very  extensive  and 
important ; that  while  they  consume  large  quantities  of 
imported  provisions  from  China,  yet  they  also  purchase 
much  that  is  American,  and  often  that  which  is  most 
expensive,  even  luxuries,  such  as  chickens,  eggs,  fresh 
meats  in  cans,  pork,  even  when  it  might  be  twice  as  dear 
as  beef,  melons,  fruit,  etc. ; that  the  Chinese  would  pur- 
chase when  the  expense  was  such  as  to  deter  Americans, 
for  the  Chinese  would  have  what  they  wanted,  cost  what 
it  may.  They  are  generally  free  from  drunkenness, 
quarrels  and  lazy  habits,  which  characterize  many  others 
in  the  mines,  and  labor  faithfully,  satisfied  when  none 
others  will  work.  I have  just  called  upon  an  agent  of 
the  California  Stage  Company  in  this  place,  and  was  told 
by  him  that,  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  taking  all  their 
stage  routes  together,  full  one-quarter  of  their  passen- 
gers during  the  last  year  had  been  Chinese ; that  they 
patronize  public  conveyances  in  proportion  to  their  num- 
bers more  than  Americans.  I find  also  that  the  Chinese 
are  often  employed  as  cooks,  and  are  very  well  spoken 
of  as  such,  as  also  in  other  kindred  occupations.  They 
seem  to  be  almost  universally  respected  among  the 
mining  and  laboring  portion  of  the  inhabitants.  I can 
say  decidedly,  I believe  that  among  the  working-classes 
in  the  mountains  they  are  truly  considered  as  worthy 
of  much  regard,  and  the  strong  feeling  is  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  taxed  as  high  as  they  are ; that  they 
ought  to  have  legal  protection  from  those  who  rob  and 
steal  from  them,  even  to  murdering  them,  for  they  have 

34 


530 


TEE  OLDEST  AND  THE  - NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


no  redress  unless  an  American  is  witness  to  the  deed, 
and  comes  in  with  the  law  to  their  relief ; and  that  their 
oath  ought  to  be  allowed  in  legal  tribunals,  at  least  so 
far  that  a jury  or  court  might,  if  it  judged  best,  receive 
their  testimony.  I am  strongly  of  opinion  that  the  op- 
position to  the  Chinese  arises  from  prejudice,  and  not 
from  their  interfering  with  any  American  interests,  and 
is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  unproducing  class  in 
our  country — to  gamblers,  loafers,  liquor-dealers,  etc.” 
Other  testimonies  would  but  serve  to  sustain  the  above. 
They  corroborate  the  views  which  I have  presented  in 
this  chapter. 

I have  not  considered  this  subject  now  in  its  higher 
civil  and  moral  relations.  But  this  much  is  evident, 
that,  looking  at  the  advent  of  the  Chinese  race  in  the 
New  World  in  the  light  of  an  accession  to  the  sum  of 
the  physical  labor  which  is  necessary  to  meet  our  agri- 
cultural, manufacturing,  dome^ic  and  other  wants,  both 
its  characteristics  and  the  partial  experience  of  those 
who  have  tested  it  upon  our  Pacific  coast  show  that  it 
must  be  regarded  as  a great,  opportune  and  valuable 
national  benefit. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  &HINA. 

rTHE  sentiments  of  Americans  with  regard  to  China 
have  hitherto  been  principally  formed  by  the  writ- 
ings of  men  born  and  educated  under  monarchical  in- 
stitutions. The  earliest  and  the  most  abundant  pro- 
ductions which  have  made  us  acquainted  with  that 
remote  and  exclusive  empire  have  been  those  of  the 
Jesuits,  Lazarists,  Dominicans,  Franciscans  and  priests 
of  other  Roman  Catholic  orders,  who  began  vigorously 
to  attempt  the  conversion  of  its  people  to  their  system  of 
Christianity  more  than  three  centuries  ago.  The  French, 
German  and  other  authors  who  have  described  China 
have  been  chiefly  indebted  to  the  narratives,  reports  and 
histories  of  these  men,  which  have  been  numerous,  full 
and  well  written,  for  their  facts  and  the  conclusions  from 
them.  But  these  priests  fear  and  hate  popular  liberty. 
“ No  means  must  be  omitted,”  said  Pope  Clement  XIII., 
“ to  exterminate  the  fatal  pest,  which  spreads  through 
so  many  works.”  We  know  how  the  late  Gregory  XVI. 
was  infuriated  by  “that  pest  of  all  others  most  to  be 
dreaded  in  a state — unbridled  liberty  of  opinion” — 
“ that  worst  and  never  sufficiently  to  be  execrated  and 
detestable  liberty  of  the  press,  for  the  diffusion  of  all 
manner  of  writings.”  The  principles,  the  desires,  the 

531 


532 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


interests  of  tliese  men  all  disposed  them  to  magni  fy  the 
majesty,  the  authority,  the  wealth,  the  extent  of  tl  e im- 
perial power.  They  slavishly  courted  it  in  China  ; they 
magnified  it  in  Europe.  They  dread  the  power  of  the 
people  in  China,  as  we  have  the  evidence  they  do  in 
America.  There  is  little  for  Americans  to  learn  from 
their  books  as  to  what  exists  of  it  in  China. 

The  other  chief  source  of  American  knowledge  has 
been  the  books  written  by  servants  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment, or  by  British  travelers  or  missionaries.  There 
is  much  that  is  valuable  in  them.  Yet  two  fatal  influ- 
ences corrupt  most  of  their  conceptions  of  the  Chinese 
political  system.  The  first  is  that  of  their  previous  mo- 
narchical ideas.  The  second  is  that  of  the  immense  stake 
which  Great  Britain  has  in  the  opium  traffic.  The  na- 
tional conscience  and  judgment  are  perverted,  so  far  as 
justice  to  the  Chinese  is  concerned,  by  the  one  fact  that 
Great  Britain  supports  her  Indian  government,  enriches 
multitudes  of  her  subjects  and  preserves  the  control  of 
Oriental  commerce,  by  the  cultivation  in  India  and  an- 
nual sale  to  China  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars’  worth  of 
opium.  These  people  dare  not  consider  the  virtues  of 
the  innocent  family  whom  they  are  robbing,  and  whose 
house  they  are  burning  over  their  heads. 

Now  that  China  is  brought  to  be  our  nearest  neighbor 
on  the  west  and  her  interests  and  ours  are  so  much 
identified,  we  must  examine  her  institutions  for  our- 
selves, and  from  a new  position. 

A fairer  estimate  of  the  Chinese  will  take  the  place, 
on  the  one  extreme,  of  the  blunders  or  misrepresentations 
as  to  her  political  character  which  held  up  their  empire 
as  a model  government;  and  on  the  other  extreme  of  the 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


533 


mistake  and  folly  of  those  as  to  her  moral  cnaracter 
Tvhich  painted  her  people  as  the  most  vicious  or  sensual 
Df  the  heathen.  A letter  was  published  some  years  ago 
from  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams,  the  Chinese  Secretary  to 
the  American  Legation  at  Peking,  and  author  of  the 
work  entitled  “The  Middle  Kingdom,”  in  which  he 
says : “ The  Chinese  race  has,  perhaps,  risen  as  high  as 
is  possible  in  the  two  great  objects  of  human  govern- 
ment— security  of  life  and  property  to  the  governed, 
and  freedom  of  action  under  the  individual  restraints  of 
law.”1  The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  exhibit  them  in 
such  a light,  as  the  deduction  from  the  writer’s  experi- 
ence among  them  in  their  own  country  and  in  California. 

There  are  few  nations  of  the  world  among  whom  the 
freedom  of  the  people  is  more  large,  more  squarely 
founded  upon  their  intelligence,  or  more  carefully 
guarded  against  despotism,  than  it  is  in  China. 

To  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  man- 
kind this  will  not  seem  strange.  For  though  it  flatters 
our  national  vanity  to  assume  representative  forms  to  be 
the  pleasant  fruit  of  bitter  seed  and  of  long  and  painful 
cultivation,  yet  this  is  not  the  truth.  The  first  state  of 
men  in  society  is  one  of  political  equality.  The  first 
natural  advance  toward  its  organization  is  their  election 
to  authority  of  those  most  capable  of  protecting  them 
and  punishing  the  vicious.  Where  society  has  remained 
most  peaceful  and  unchanged  we  may  expect  to  find  its 
original  institutions  less  disturbed.  The  dispersion  of 
great  families,  interferences  with  regular  occupations, 
long  migrations,  wars,  changes  of  circumstances,  tend  to 
break  them  up.  The  planting  of  mankind  upon  a new 


1 New  York  Observer. 


534 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


hemisphere  is  like  a new  creation,  in  which  a small 
number  of  individuals,  compelled  to  meet  the  first  ne- 
cessities of  existence,  return  to  the  primitive  ideas  of 
government. 

To  men,  therefore,  who  are  informed  as  to  the  past 
history  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  and  as  to  their  present 
relative  condition,  it  will  seem  credible  that  the  oldest 
and  most  unchanged  of  them  should  not  be  so  different 
as  many  believe  from  the  newest  of  them,  which  has 
revolutionized  the  forms  whose  tyranny  drove  its  found- 
ers beyond  their  reach  to  another  hemisphere;  that 
China  should  be  the  freest  nation  of  the  East,  as  the 
United  States  is  of  the  West.  !Nor  will  it  seem  im- 
probable that  the  notions  wThich  many  entertain  of  the 
Chinese,  which  are  gathered  from  the  writings  of  Euro- 
peans as  prejudiced  against  the  one  as  they  are  against 
the  other,  and  indeed  very  ignorant  of  the  real  condition 
and  spirit  of  either,  or  else  formed  from  the  partial  and 
superficial  observations  of  some  of  our  own  people,  should 
prove  to  be  mistaken  and  unjust. 

The  classical  student  will  see  the  force  of  this  when 
he  remembers  the  political  system  of  ancient  Rome — an 
empire  whose  history  has  some  remarkable  points  of 
analogy  to  that  of  China.  Beneath  the  monarchical 
rule,  which  became  more  and  more  strong  until  the 
popular  liberty  was  at  last  crushed  by  it,  there  rise  con- 
stantly to  view  institutions  which  display  the  power  of 
the  people.  Thus  the  “tribes”1  held  their  separate  reg- 
ular assemblies ; they  elected  officers  who  at  length  came 

1 The  English  word  “tribe”  comes  indeed  from  the  Latin  tribus,  signifying 
originally  one  of  the  three  clans,  the  Ramnes,  the  Tities  and  the  Luceres,  which 
at  an  early  period  embraced  in  one  or  the  other  of  them  the  whole  of  the  people. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


535 


to  be  represented  in  the  Senate  and  even  administer  tbe 
government.  They  were  governed  by  their  own  regu- 
lations or  laws ; they  aided  the  state  in  the  collection  of 
debts  and  in  the  punishment  of  crimes ; they  had  a cer- 
tain control  over  the  property  of  their  members  and  over 
its  transmission  to  heirs ; they  did  not  permit  intermar- 
riage between  families  connected  with  different  tribes; 
they  maintained  each  a particular  religious  worship,  and 
they  exercised  a benevolent  care  over  their  own  poor, 
supplying  them  when  necessary  with  food.  The  mem- 
bers of  various  trades  formed  another  class  of  popular 
associations  which  were  possessed  of  great  power  in  the 
state.  In  the  time  of  Xuma  there  were  nine  of  these 
colleges  or  associations:  pipers,  goldsmiths,  carpenters, 
dyers,  girdle-makers,  tanners,  potters,  workers  in  brass, 
and  one  embracing  the  remaining  trades. 

In  India  the  despotism  of  successive  conquering  races 
has  been  checked  and  ameliorated  by  the  continued 
maintenance  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the  system  of  clans 
or  village  communities,  which  is  described  by  Henry 
Sumner  Maine,1  a very  able  English  lawyer,  a member 
of  the  supreme  council  of  India,  to  be  “more  than  a 
brotherhood  of  relatives,  and  more  than  an  association 
of  partners.  It  is  an  organized  society ; and  besides 
providing  for  the  management  of  the  common  fund,  it 
seldom  fails  to  provide,  by  a complete  staff  of  function- 
aries, for  internal  government,  for  police,  for  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  and  for  the  apportionment  of  taxes 
and  public  duties.” 

A nation  of  Europe  whose  extraordinary  friendship 
to  our  own  has  often  puzzled  politicians  of  both  that  and 

1 In  his  work  on  Ancient  Law,  pp.  254,  etc. 


536 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


our  continent,  who  did  not  see  the  deeper  principles 
which  bind  them  together,  Russia,  which  wonderfully 
unites  the  ancient  with  the  modern  and  the  Oriental 
with  the  European  in  her  political  and  social  structure, 
may  be  given  as  another  example  of  the  power  of  the 
ancient  republicanism.  It  may  be  said  that  the  govern- 
ment is  more  in  the  hands  of  the  people  than  with  the 
emperor  and  aristocracy.  This  is  the  key  to  the  aston- 
ishing advancement  of  Russia  in  wealth,  freedom  and 
power  within  a few  generations  past.  The  empire  wrns 
built  upon  the  subjugation  of  numerous  cities  and  tribes, 
independent  and  democratic  in  their  form.  And  now 
these  elements  are  again  leavening  the  whole  system. 
The  communes  hold  triennial  elections ; voters  must  be 
twenty-five  years  of  age  and  the  elders  elected  not  under 
thirty;  no  man  can  vote  who  has  been  convicted  of 
crime ; persons  of  any  useful  employment  are  eligible  to 
office ; the  poor  consider  themselves  equal  with  the  rich ; 
the  only  distinction  in  the  garments  is  in  the  richness 
of  the  material,  not  in  the  shape  or  fashion,  and  they  eat 
together  at  the  same  table ; the  officers  elected  are  the 
elders,  a number  of  councilors,  a collector  of  taxes,  with 
the  necessary  assistants,  an  overseer  of  the  public  gran- 
ary and  the  police ; provision  is  made  for  the  supply  of 
recruits  for  the  army ; and  the  commune  is  allowed,  if  it 
desire,  to  establish  a local  bank.  A general  council  of 
representatives  from  these  village  councils  is  held  in 
each  county  or  district  once  in  three  years,  which  elects 
a chief  elder,  a permanent  council,  a board  of  arbitrators 
and  a secretary.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  how  much  power 
resides  with  the  people  of  Russia  and  how  far  the  general 
government  yields  local  affairs  into  their  hands.  Even 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


537 


tlie  mines  discovered  on  the  property  of  individuals  are 
not  claimed,  as  is  the  case  in  many  countries  of  the  West, 
by  the  government ; and  to  this  many  of  the  great  fam- 
ilies owe  their  rise. 

I have  mentioned  these  ancient  republican  institutions, 
or  their  remains,  in  order  to  justify  the  comparison  made 
between  those  of  China  and  the  United  States.  It  must 
surprise  many  of  our  people  to  observe  how  much  their 
features  resemble  those  of  our  own  forms,  save  that  ours 
are  overridden  by  no  foreign  conquests,  and  as  yet  by  no 
successful  ambition  within  our  own  borders ; and  further, 
that  ours  are  more  complete  and  extensive.  But  the 
freedom  of  the  people  in  China  is  superior  to  that  in 
either  Rome,  India  or  Russia ; and  I will  now  describe 
in  what  it  consists  and  upon  what  it  is  founded. 

Let  us  take  up  three  leading  features  of  the  Chinese 
government : the  theory  of  the  imperial  power ; the  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  general  government  is  administered ; 
and  the  forms  of  local  popular  government  which  uni- 
versally exist.  As  the  latter  is  the  most  interesting  sub- 
ject, the  first  two  will  be  discussed  more  briefly. 

The  theory  of  the  imperial  power  is  that  the  people 
are  not  subjects  to  be  ruled  by  fear,  but  children  to  be 
inspired  and  controlled  by  affection  and  gratitude  toward 
a father  who  with  unceasing  anxiety  watches  over  and 
cares  for  them  all.  There  is  a book  of  remarkable 
interest  in  a moral  view  which  well  illustrates  this.  It 
is  a series  of  moral  discourses  prepared  by  the  emperor 
Yung-ching  upon  the  basis  of  sixteen  maxims  of  his 
father,  the  great  Kang-hi  (who  reigned  from  A.D.  1661 
for  sixty  years),  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  read  to 
the  people  of  the  whole  empire  at  the  beginning  and 


538 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


middle  of  every  month.  The  first  of  these  “ Sacred  In- 
structions” is  upon  “filial  piety.”  Yung-ching  says: 
“ The  definite  design  of  our  sacred  Father  was  to  govern 
the  empire  through  the  principle  of  filial  piety.  Upon 
that  principle  is  founded  the  unchangeable  laws  of 
heaven,  the  government  of  providence  on  earth  and  the 
common  obligations  of  all  men.”  In  the  second  dis- 
course, upon  the  duties  of  families  and  kindred  to  each 
other,  he  applies  the  idea  practically:  “The  kindred 
which  spring  from  the  same  stock  are  like  the  streams 
which  flow  from  one  fountain,  or  like  the  branches 
which  grow  upon  one  tree.  Though  these  differ,  as  the 
one  may  in  its  course  flow  through  extended  districts,  or 
as  the  other  in  its  branches  may  ramify  more  widely,  yet 
the  source  of  the  stream  and  the  root  of  the  tree  remain 
the  same.  Thus  with  the  maintenance  of  the  principle 
of  filial  piety.  Harmony  is  promoted  by  it  in  the  family, 
in  the  village  and  in  the  city ; the  spirit  of  unity  is 
breathed  abroad ; general  happiness  is  enjoyed,  and  a 
scene  of  peace  is  presented.”1  And  it  is  but  just  to  say 
that  these  admirable  sentiments  are  rejDeated  in  the  state- 
papers  of  each  succeeding  emperor  of  that  great  nation. 

The  comparative  freedom  of  the  people  of  China  is,  in 
the  next  place,  made  manifest  in  the  political  principles 
upon  which  the  general  government  is  administered. 
To  secure  an  intelligent,  capable  and  faithful  magistracy, 
the  foundation  of  all  preferment  is  planted  upon  educa- 
tion. To  this  fact  the  admiration  of  the  world  may  be 
boldly  challenged.  Hear  it,  nations  of  the  West ! It 
is  not  hereditary  perhaps  without  personal  honor,  it 
is  not  the  power  of  wealth,  it  is  not  the  claims  of 

1 Shixg-yu,  Discourses  i.  and  ii. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


539 


favoritism,  it  is  not  pandering  to  popular  prejudices  or 
interests,  upon  which  the  aspiring  in  China  are  encour- 
aged to  place  their  hopes,  but  upon  education ! The 
best  writings  of  their  sages  from  the  earliest  ages  are 
compiled  into  books  for  the  instruction  of  the  young. 
Schools  abound,  taught  at  cheap  rates  by  advanced  stu- 
dents, or  supported  by  endowments  or  charitable  contri- 
butions. Books  in  common  use  are  much  cheaper  than 
in  this  country.  The  examinations  of  children  in  the 
villages  are  conducted  monthly  by  the  elders,  at  which  a 
simple  theme  is  proposed,  upon  which  they  write  their 
juvenile  essays.  And  examinations,  upon  given  topics 
in  prose  and  in  poetry,  chiefly  moral,  historical  and 
political,  are  held  at  times  and  places  which  vary  accord- 
ing to  their  importance,  for  scholars  at  successive  stages 
of  advancement  until  they  reach  the  highest,  which  is 
held  once  in  three  years  at  the  capital  of  the  empire. 
The  successful  competitors  at  the  higher  ones  receive 
appointments  to  the  offices  under  government.  I was  at 
Canton  upon  the  occasion  of  a great  triennial  examina- 
tion of  candidates  for  the  second  degree,  which  entitled 
to  the  best  offices  of  the  cities  and  districts  of  a prov- 
ince of  twenty-one  millions  of  people.  Seventy-two 
were  to  be  selected.  For  a chance  among  that  number 
seven  or  eight  thousand  educated  men  presented  them- 
selves, some  of  them  white  with  old  age.  Two  imperial 
commissioners  from  Pekin  presided.  The  candidates 
were  all  shut  up  in  the  close  rooms  of  a range  of  build- 
ings provided  for  these  occasions,  and  could  not  come 
out  until  their  essays  on  the  five  themes  given  were  com- 
pleted. The  whole  city  and  province  were  in  a ferment 
of  interest.  Heralds  were  in  waiting,  who,  by  swift 


540 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


boats,  horses  and  running,  conveyed  tidings  of  the  result 
to  every  part  of  the  province ; and  in  their  native  towns 
the  successful  ones  were  welcomed  with  banners  and 
music  and  feasts  of  joy.  I have  shed  tears  of  re- 
gret that  in  my  own  dear  country  no  such  sublime  and 
delightful  spectacles  are  witnessed.  The  incorporation 
of  this  great  elementary  principle  is  the  thing  most 
wanting  in  the  republicanism  of  the  United  States.  We 
may  not  want  “ compulsory  education,”  the  refuge  and  the 
instrument  of  despotism.  But  we  do  want  sound  educa- 
tion, not  alone  for  the  children  of  more  favored  classes, 
but  also  in  schools  open  to  all,  maintained  at  the  public 
expense,  and  leavened  by  the  fundamental  truths  of 
Christianity,  to  be  the  great  avenue  to  social  honor  and 
to  political  power.  Here  lies  the  mighty  secret  of  the 
stability  of  China.  Without  education  founded  upon 
the  revelation  of  God,  we  have  little  to  hope  for  the 
future  of  America. 

The  principles  on  which  the  government  is  adminis- 
tered are  forcibly  brought  before  us  in  the  consideration 
of  the  numerous  methods  which  have  been  introduced 
to  guard  against  abuses  and  ensure  impartiality  and 
honesty.  Four  of  these  are  particularly  worthy  of 
observation : 

First.  The  officers  of  the  general  government  are  de- 
tached from  local  influences  by  the  rule  that  no  man 
shall  hold  office  in  the  province  of  which  he  is  a native. 

Second.  The  dangers  connected  with  the  growth  of 
such  influences  in  any  portion  of  the  country  are  pro- 
vided against  by  another  rule  which  fixes  a term  for 
holding  office,  and  that  a comparatively  short  one — only 
three  years.  If  the  question  be  asked  whether  this  pro- 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


541 


vision  may  not  spring  from  the  jealousy  of  a foreign 
ruling  dynasty,  the  reply  is  at  hand,  that  it  was  estab- 
lished in  the  fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  ap- 
pears to  be  held  as  a fundamental  idea  of  the  political 
system. 

Third.  A Board  of  Review,  or  Censorate,  at  Peking, 
is  appointed  to  revise  all  documents  sent  to  the  court 
and  inspect  the  conduct  of  officers,  from  the  humblest  of 
them  even  to  the  emperor  upon  the  throne.  Officers 
connected  with  this  department  report  from  every  part  of 
the  empire  acts  of  official  misconduct.  The  courage  with 
which  this  Board  and  its  servants  expose  and  rebuke 
even  the  most  wealthy  and  powerful  and  secure  their 
punishment  is  often  surprising  and  worthy  of  admira- 
tion. They  do  not  spare  even  “the  Son  of  heaven,” 
when  the  welfare  of  his  subjects  seems  to  require  his 
vices  to  be  sternly  reproved;  and  some  of  them  have 
suffered  death  in  consequence.  The  histories  of  the  em- 
pire hand  down  with  language  of  praise  the  names  and 
actions  of  those  who  have  been  most  faithful.  This  re- 
markable feature  of  the  government  has  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  monarchical  powers  of  the  world. 
Sir  Geo.  T.  Staunton,  in  making  the  translation  of  the 
Penal  Code  of  the  present  dynasty,  adds  the  note,  that 
“The  Tribunal  of  the  Censorate  has  the  power  of  in- 
specting and  animadverting  upon  the  proceedings  of  all 
the  other  boards  and  tribunals  of  the  empire,  and  even 
on  the  acts  of  the  sovereign  himself,  whenever  they  are 
conceived  to  be  censurable.”1  But  it  is  not  a mere  censor- 
ship for  criticism.  The  French  Jesuit,  Du  Halde,  pre- 
sents it  in  its  highest  office  of  a constant  monitor  of  the 

1 Penal  Code , etc.,  note  to  Section  171. 


542 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


responsibility  of  the  government  to  tbe  people.  He  de- 
scribes tbe  censors  in  bis  work  on  China1  as  tbe  repre- 
sentatives of  tbe  people,  to  whom  tbe  emperor  himself  is 
compelled  to  yield;  for,  “ should  be  injure  them  be  would 
really  increase  their  honor,  and  obtain  for  himself  odious 
epithets,  which  the  appointed  historians  of  the  empire 
would  scrupulously  transmit  to  posterity.”  He  says  the 
court  is  compelled  to  degrade  officers  whom  they  per- 
sist in  accusing,  “ to  avoid  disgusting  the  people,  and 
sullying  its  own  reputation.” 

Fourth.  Another  of  the  methods  by  which  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people  is  secured  is  the  system  of  official  re- 
ports  to  the  Six  Boards,  or  Departments,2  of  the  govern- 
ment; which  reports  virtually  appeal  to  the  popular 
sentiment  of  the  nation  for  its  support,  through  the 
Peking  Gazette  and  other  means  of  universal  publica- 
tion. This  Gazette  (whose  proper  name  is  the  King 
Chau  or  “Reporter  of  the  Capital”)  is  a pamphlet  of 
forty  to  sixty  pages,  published  each  one,  two  or  three 
days,  as  the  matter  is  supplied.  It  is  distributed  over 
the  whole  empire  in  a limited  number  of  copies  to  lead- 
ing points,  which  are  there  rapidly  reprinted  by  various 
means,  and  supplied  to  officers,  to  men  of  wealth  who 
pay  about  twelve  dollars  a year  for  copies  which  they 
retain,  and  to  circles  of  readers  who  hire  them  succes- 
sively for  sums  which  diminish  according  to  the  time 
after  their  publication,  just  as  the  London  Times  and 
other  expensive  newspapers  are  supplied  in  England 


1 Vol.  L pp.  71  and  250. 

2 These  are,  1,  the  Department  of  State;  2,  the  Department  of  Revenue  ; 3, 
the  Department  of  Rites;  4,  the  Department  of  War;  5,  the  Judicial  Depart- 
ment ; 6,  the  Department  of  Public  tVorks. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


543 


and  on  the  Continent.  The  officers  of  each  province  in 
turn  publish  their  reports  or  subjects  for  popular  infor- 
mation or  consideration.  And  indeed  the  walls  of  Chi- 
nese towns  are  covered  with  placards  of  every  kind, 
political,  commercial,  quack-medicines,  etc.,  just  as  they 
are  in  this  country.  Thus  a thinking  and  intelligent 
people  keep  public  affairs  incessantly  under  their  own 
eye. 

These  statements  as  to  the  theory  of  the  imperial 
power  and  the  principles  of  the  general  administration 
possess  great  weight  in  estimating  the  true  character  of 
the  political  institutions  of  China,  and  evince  an  amount 
of  popular  intelligence,  liberty  and  power  which  will 
bear  comparison  with  that  of  the  monarchical  countries 
of  Europe. 

But  an  acquaintance  with  the  structure  of  the  general 
government  is  not  the  true  way  to  comprehend  the  ex- 
tent of  the  freedom  which  the  Chinese  enjoy.  This  is 
only  to  be  learned  from  a careful  study  of  their  popular 
forms,  which  are  distinct  from  that  and  which  often  suc- 
cessfully oppose  it.  I refer  to  the  organizations  of  the 
clans ; the  town  or  district  councils ; the  trade  associa- 
tions, and  the  clubs  or  companies  established  for  occa- 
sional or  special  objects.  The  secret  societies  for  political 
and  other  purposes  are  numerous  and  powerful,  but  an 
account  of  them  does  not  come  within  our  scope  in  con- 
sidering the  lawful  institutions  of  the  country. 

The  first  mentioned,  and,  it  may  be  justly  said,  the 
fundamental  and  most  ancient,  organization  of  a political 
nature  is  that  of  the  clan. 

The  clan  stands  in  China  just  where  it  did  in  the  He- 
brew commonwealth  and  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and 


544 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Israel,  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole  structure.  No 
man  thoroughly  conceives  the  polity  of  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple who  looks  at  it  through  the  medium  of  European 
and  Western  models.  There  are  many  features  of  it 
which  it  is  most  important,  as  illuminated  by  divine 
revelation,  for  the  statesman,  the  scholar,  the  Christian, 
to  examine ; such  are  the  operations  and  effects  of  the 
fundamental  republican  form,  united  with  the  primary 
honor  accorded  to  the  lineal  representative  of  the  founder 
of  the  clan ; the  conjunction  of  secular  and  religious 
purposes  and  agencies  in  relation  to  the  education  of 
the  youth ; the  legislative  and  other  powers  of  these 
lesser  presbyteries,  or  of  the  general  assemblies,  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people ; the  functions  of  the  elders, 
judges  and  other  officers,  and  their  place  in  the  Church 
and  State,  both  ancient  and  modern ; the  police  regula- 
tions of  villages  and  towns ; the  energy  of  a military 
system,  either  for  defence  or  offence,  which  is  built  upon 
free  and  republican  institutions  and  the  affection  of  the 
people;  the  jealousies  and  quarrels  of  clans  and  tribes 
and  their  ruinous  results ; the  regard  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment to  the  rights  of  those  of  a local  character,  even 
in  the  appointment  of  the  two  hundred  and  twelve  por- 
ters at  the  gates  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  “according 
to  their  genealogy  in  their  villages,”  and  the  provision 
for  “ their  brethren  in  the  villages  to  come,  after  seven 
days,  from  time  to  time,  wdth  them the  careful  observ- 
ance of  natural  laws  as  to  consanguinity  and  marriage, 
and  the  effects  of  polygamy  and  other  infractions  of 
them  ; the  precise  and  scientific  nomenclature  of  degrees 
of  kindred,  as  throwing  light  on  the  tribal  systems  of 
the  nations  of  the  world  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  de- 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


545 


scent  of  the  human  species  from  one  stock ; the  nature, 
benefits  and  evils  of  frequent  popular  festivals ; the  laws 
as  to  the  entail,  the  conveyance  and  the  restoration  of 
property,  pledges,  pawnbrokers  and  the  collection  of 
debts ; the  provision  from  the  public  funds  for  the  wants 
of  the  poor  and  the  infirm  ; the  reservation  of  a propor- 
tion of  the  produce  of  years  of  abundance  in  public  gran- 
aries to  meet  the  wants  of  years  of  scarcity  or  famine ; the 
origin  and  obligation  of  the  use  of  sevenths  in  respect  to 
time  and  of  decimal  numbers  in  respect  to  property,  as 
seals  of  the  divine  right  in  them  and  as  measures  of  duty 
in  the  consecration  of  them  for  religious  purposes ; the 
fundamental  principles  in  the  punishment  of  criminals 
and  the  modes  of  inflicting  it ; the  exceeding  reverence 
for  the  aged  and  the  honorable ; the  regard  for  the  dead, 
and  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  examples  of  the  wise  and 
good ; the  ideas  as  to  the  seminal  principle  of  life  in  the 
human  hones,  the  care  to  be  exercised  in  preserving 
them  and  collecting  them  in  and  about  the  ancient 
sepulchres  of  the  family,  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead ; the  annual  religious  observances  connected  with 
the  repair  and  care  of  burial  places ; the  peculiar  force  of 
the  prophecies  of  the  Scripture,  the  .comfort  of  the  spe- 
cific promises  and  the  solemnity  of  the  warnings  as  to 
“families”  and  “kindred,”  and  as  to  the  “gentiles,”  or 
nations  whose  peculiar  social  edifice  is  reared  upon  the 
relation  to  ancestry  ; — these  are  some  of  the  topics  which 
arise  in  the  investigation  of  the  nature  of  clans  as  they 
did  exist  in  Palestine,  and  as  they  do  exist  in  China  and 
to  a less  extent  in  other  portions  of  the  Old  World,  and 
among  the  remains  of  the  Indian  tribes  on  our  own  con- 
tinent. I employ  the  analogy  of  the  Hebrew  clans  to 

35 


546 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  Chinese  in  order  to  simplify  the  idea  of  the  latter  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  this  country  and  to  show 
their  democratic  nature ; and  farther,  that  I may  sug- 
gest this  as  one  of  many  kindred  themes  which  open 
broad  and  fertile  fields  of  remunerative  research,  which 
is  of  a nature  to  comfort  the  mind  and  strengthen  the 
purposes  of  the  foreign  missionary  of  the  Gospel,  and  to 
peculiarly  interest  and  instruct  the  people  of  our  country 
as  to  some  relationships  and  bearings  of  republican  insti- 
tutions which  may  be  new  to  many  of  them  and  are 
most  important  for  us  to  understand  who  see  the  be- 
ginning, but  not  the  end,  of  our  national  life. 

The  general  designs  of  the  support  of  the  clan  organi- 
zations may  be  briefly  stated  to  be  these  : defence  against 
the  power  of  the  general  government ; mutual  aid  and 
protection  in  business  and  the  common  transactions  of 
life;  festive  enjoyments;  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
worship  of  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  There  are  about 
four  hundred  and  fifty  clans  in  the  empire.1  Branches 
of  the  most  important  of  them  are  found  in  nearly  every 
province.  A town,  however,  never  consists  of  people  of 
one  clan  alone,  since  a man  is  not  allowed  to  marry  a wo- 
man of  the  same  name.  The  organization  of  them  is  so 
complete  that,  while  it  sometimes  secures  justice  to  the 
innocent,  it  may  besides  thwart  the  designs  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  even  of  justice.  In  some  parts  of  the  country 
they  keep  up  bitter  and  even  bloody  quarrels  from  gen- 
eration to  generation ; and  the  chiefs  of  the  clan  at  Pe- 

1 The  Pih  Kia  Sing  or  “Collection  of  Family  Names,”  a book  written  upon 
this  subject,  which  is  taught  in  schools,  gives  the  whole  of  them,  with  brief  no- 
tices of  their  origin.  The  foreign  races,  of  course,  are  not  mentioned  in  it,  and 
I have  been  told  that  there  are  some  proper  Chinese  who  do  not  belong  to  any 
of  the  clans. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


547 


king  are  able  to  prevent  the  punishment  of  murder  and 
violence  committed  by  members  of  it  elsewhere.  In  the 
country  in  the  south  of  China  we  have  seen  tombs  broken 
up  and  defaced,  the  dikes  of  rice-fields  destroyed  and 
property  abused,  through  the  feuds  of  hostile  clans. 

Emigrants  do  not  generally  maintain  these  organiza- 
tions. I know  of  none  in  California. 

The  second  class  of  powerful  popular  organizations  in 
China  is  the  trade  associations,  or  guilds.  They  re- 
semble those  for  similar  objects  in  Europe  and  America, 
and  therefore  need  no  special  description  here.  They 
are  there,  as  here,  often  beneficent  in  their  operation, 
and  yet  often  oppressive.  In  a monarchical  or  despotic 
w government  they  are  useful  as  a check  against  its 
tyranny ; but  it  is  still  doubtful  whether  they  are  not 
more  of  an  injury  than  a benefit,  since  they  interfere  with 
healthful  competition,  remove  incitements  to  industry, 
and  provide  opportunities  for  the  arts  of  intriguing  and 
worthless  men,  or  resorts  for  the  depraved.  It  is  stated 
that  there  are  a hundred  and  fifty  of  their  halls  in  Can- 
ton. They  spend  a great  deal  of  money  in  parades  and 
acts  of  idolatrous  worship. 

The  third  class  is  that  of  town  and  district  councils. 
This  forms  the  highest  advance  toward  a regular  repre- 
sentative government.  They  exercise  the  local  powers 
of  government  to  such  an  extent  that  the  imperial  offi- 
cers rarely  dare  to  rouse  them  to  general  resistance. 
The  local  administration  of  justice  is  left  almost  wholly 
in  their  hands.  Police  arrangements  and  taxation  for 
local  purposes  are  within  their  jurisdiction.  The  elders 
elected  are  generally  continued  so  long  as  they  perform 
their  duties  with  satisfaction  to  the  people.  They  are 


548 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


allowed  a salary  of  from  two  to  four  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  The  elders  of  a district  which  may  embrace  fifty 
or  a hundred  towns  and  villages  meet  in  a distinct  coun- 
cil, which  has  its  central  hall  and  a president  and  other 
necessary  officers,  who  receive  sufficient  salaries.  The 
cities  are  divided  into  large  wards,  which  have  their 
separate  councils,  but  act  together  by  representatives 
when  occasion  requires.  Their  administration  is  very 
effective.  The  police  of  the  city  of  Canton  number 
about  a thousand.  The  streets,  which  are  only  a few 
feet  in  width,  have  a gate  at  the  end  of  each  square, 
which  is  closed  at  night,  and  guarded  by  a watchman, 
who  also  strikes  the  hour  upon  a loud-sounding  hollow 
piece  of  bamboo. 

During  the  stormy  times  succeeding  the  Opium  War, 
foreigners  seeking  to  enlarge  their  former  restrictions 
often  came  into  conflict  with  these  councils  and  proved 
the  extent  of  the  popular  power.  We  were  effectually 
prevented  renting  houses,  after  agreeing  to  pay  the  most 
outrageous,  exorbitant  rents,  by  a simple  notification 
from  the  council  of  the  ward  of  the  city  in  which  they 
were  situated  that  if  the  owner  admitted  us  to  the  build- 
ing it  would  be  destroyed  and  himself  put  to  death. 
Nor  was  the  governor-general,  with  the  power  of  the 
emperor  to  back  him,  able  to  sustain  us  against  such  a 
decree. 

These  democratic  bodies  do  not  hesitate  to  resist  the 
imperial  officers.  A mandarin  who  had  made  his  name 
detested  by  his  evil  deeds  was  met  one  day  in  going 
forth  with  his  retinue  by  an  aged,  white-haired  coolie 
bearing  a heavy  burden.  The  old  man  was  unable 
quickly  to  clear  the  way,  and  the  officer  commanded 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


549 


liim  to  be  thrown  down  and  beaten.  The  enraged  in- 
habitants of  the  ward  closed  their  shops,  and  did  not 
rest  until  the  man  who  treated  hoary  hairs  with  disre- 
spect and  a poor  man  with  such  cruelty  was  driven 
from  the  city. 

A robber  of  desperate  character  was  detected  amidst 
a crowd  in  the  court  of  the  'VVa-lam  temple  listening  to 
the  recitations  of  a story-teller.  He  killed  a soldier  be- 
fore he  could  be  overpowered.  He  was  tried,  and  sen- 
tenced by  the  judge  to  be  beheaded  in  the  temple,  and 
his  vitals  to  be  laid  upon  the  altar  as  a sacrifice  to  the 
spirit  of  the  slain  soldier.  So  unusual  a punishment 
created  much  excitement  in  the  district.  The  ward 
councils  took  up  the  matter  and  prohibited  the  execution 
of  the  sentence,  but  gave  permission  for  the  head  of  the 
soldier,  if  he  were  decapitated  at  the  execution-ground, 
to  be  hung  up  near  the  temple  as  a terror  to  evil-doers. 

The  imperial  government  is  much  less  to  be  blamed 
than  the  people  of  Western  nations  have  supposed  on 
account  of  the  disturbances  which  have  occurred  with 
foreigners.  The  local  democracy  was  more  often  the 
offending  party.  And  their  resistance  in  turn  was  the 
result  of  the  misdeeds  of  our  people.  After  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  bloody  Opium  War,  which  seemed  to  them 
a most  inexcusable  and  tremendous  crime  from  begin- 
ning to  end,  it  was  made  one  of  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  with  Great  Britain,  August  29,  1842,  that  five 
new  ports  were  to  be  opened  for  foreign  trade,  and  it 
was  generally  understood  that  the  same  privileges  would 
as  soon  as  practicable  be  granted  at  Canton.  The  people, 
however,  resisted,  being  alarmed  at  the  idea  of  the  intro- 
duction of  British  traders  and  soldiery  within  the  city, 


550 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


confident  in  their  numbers,  and  filled  also  with  a super- 
stitious terror  of  the  powers  of  “the  foreign  demons,” 
whom  they  supposed  to  be  of  a constitution  and  nature 
different  from  their  own  and  much  to  be  dreaded. 
Their  local  councils  proclaimed  that  a hundred  thousand 
“ braves”  had  been  enlisted  to  carry  on  the  war  to  the 
extermination  of  these  “ devils ;”  Ki-ying,  a most  able 
and  intelligent  governor,  was  completely  baffled  in  his 
efforts  to  maintain  peace ; and  neither  the  power  of  their 
own  government  nor  the  continued  threatening  demon- 
strations of  that  of  Great  Britain  could  subdue  them, 
until  finally  Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros,  supported  by 
the  allied  English  and  French  fleets,  bombarded  the  city 
in  December,  1857,  burned  down  a considerable  portion 
of  it,  and  placed  it  under  a military  control  which  con- 
tinued for  two  years.  The  Presbyterian  Mission  build- 
ings and  library  were  among  the  property  destroyed. 

In  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the  general  govern- 
ment in  this  chapter,  it  is  the  theory  of  it,  and  its  better 
aspects  chiefly,  which  have  been  presented.  If  it  be 
thought  I have  gone  too  far,  I might  sustain  this  view 
by  quotations  from  the  most  intelligent  men  who  have 
come  into  direct  acquaintance  with  the  Chinese.  The 
eminent  British  statesman,  Sir  George  T.  Staunton, 
speaks  with  admiration  of  the  Chinese  system  of  law, 
and  studied  the  language  and  made  a translation  of  the 
Penal  Code  of  the  present  dynasty.  Concerning  this 
translation,  the  "Edinburgh  Review 1 said  : “ The  most 
remarkable  thing  in  this  code  is  its  great  reasonableness, 
clearness  and  consistency ; the  business-like  brevity  and 

1 In  a number  published  shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  translation— 
that  for  August,  1810. 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


551 


directness  of  tlie  various  provisions,  and  the  plainness 
and  moderation  of  the  language  in  which  it  is  ex- 
pressed.” To  this  might  be  added  the  fact  that  this 
code  is  revised  from  time  to  time  under  the  supervision 
of  the  emperor  and  in  accordance  with  the  judgment  of 
his  wisest  counselors,  and  new  editions  are  published 
and  circulated  over  the  empire.  Thus  it  has  acquired 
the  force  of  a written  constitution,  and  the  lines  of  jus- 
tice which  it  draws  the  emperor  himself  scarcely  dares 
to  exceed.  It  “savors  throughout  of  practical  judgment 
and  European  good  sense.”  Thomas  Taylor  Meadows, 
Esq.,  a thorough  student  of  the  Chinese  literature  and 
politics,  interpreter  in  the  British  service  in  China,  de- 
clares that  the  Chinese  “enjoy  an  amount  of  freedom  in 
the  disposal  of  their  persons  and  property  which  other 
European  nations  than  the  Russians  may  well  envy 
them.”  He  says  that  if  civilization  should  be  moral  and 
mental  before  material,  then  “the  Chinese  civilization 
has  from  the  earliest  ages  been  the  highest  in  hind , 
whatever  it  may  have  been  in  degree  or  in  the  extent  to 
which  it  has  been  practiced.”  He  urges  strongly  some 
features  of  it  upon  the  British  government  for  its  adop- 
tion, and  says  that  in  some  points  of  it  “ the  Chinese  are 
practically  more  Christian  than  the  Christians  of  the 
West.”1 

Nor  is  it  denied  that  in  the  administration  more  espe- 
cially of  the  general  government  in  China  there  have 
existed,  and  do  exist,  great  abuses  and  corruption.  In 
so  far  as  these  facts  relate  to  the  general  government 
alone  the  objection  built  upon  them  does  not  affect  the 
estimate  we  place  upon  the  popular  forms.  But  it  will 

1 The  Chinese  and  their  Rebellions,  pp.  28,  120,  etc. 


552 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


be  granted  that  these  have  had  a share  in  the  universal 
increase  of  evil  which  the  best  classes  of  Chinese  testify 
with  great  grief  has  grown  up  within  the  past  half  cen- 
tury. And  this  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  following 
reasons.  The  imperial  power  is  in  the  hands  of  foreign- 
ers, the  Manchu  Tartars,  who  are  hated  by  the  people, 
and  who  have  yielded  to  bribery  to  obtain  means  to 
carry  on  the  government.  The  popular  mind  has  been 
everywhere  unsettled,  the  better  classes  held  in  anxiety 
and  vice  allowed  to  prevail,  on  account  of  the  prevalent 
spirit  of  rebellion ; many  treasonable  societies  have 
sprung  up,  and  the  people  have  freely  quoted  the  words 
of  old  prophecies  and  oracles,  to  the  effect  that  the  time 
has  come  for  the  overthrow  of  the  present  general  gov- 
ernment. Tremendous  corruption,  beggary,  crime,  death, 
have  followed  the  vast  enlargement  of  foreign  trade ; 
most  terrible,  most  inexcusable,  most  widespread  of 
all  the  sources  of  them  has  been  the  cultivation  by 
Europeans  and  Americans  of  the  fatal  passion  for 
opium.  And  one  other  cause  of  the  universal  in- 
crease of  evil,  I hesitate  not  to  say,  has  been  the  decay 
of  religious  sentiment.  The  fruit  of  wars  and  rumors 
of  wars,  of  men’s  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for 
looking  after  those  things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth, 
is — when  superadded  to  religious  systems  which  are 
bad,  worn-out  and  ready  to  vanish  away — that  iniquity 
abounds.  Hence  the  present  heart-affecting  condition 
of  China  seems  to  hold  in  dark  relief  before  our  eyes 
this  one  principal  thought — the  stupendous  national 
necessity  for  the  gospel ! 

It  is  not  assumed,  superior  as  the  institutions  of  China 
are  to  those  of  any  other  heathen  countries,  and  to  those 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT  IN  CHINA. 


553 


of  not  a few  nominally  Christian  countries,  that  their 
principles  bear  comparison  with  those  which  are  the 
ripened  and  most  precious  earthly  fruit  of  Christianity. 
On  the  contrary,  they  will  be  changed ; the  time  has 
come  for  that  change ; the  people  will  enjoy  a more  se- 
cure, thorough,  happy  and  abiding  freedom — a rock  on 
which  their  whole  social  structure  shall  be  reared  anew, 
high  in  the  centre  of  which  shall  stand  in  its  beauty 
and  glory  a new  temple  upon  whose  front  shall  shine 
the  inscription,  “ Holiness  unto  the  Lord.”  And  all  the 
nations  of  that  boundless  continent  shall  rejoice  with 
them. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 

of  the  most  curious  features  of  social  order  in 
^ California  is  the  Chinese  companies.  The  quiet  and 
timid  subordination  of  the  Chinese  to  our  laws,  however 
arbitrary  and  severe,  and  the  pride  or  vanity  which  re- 
gards all  swarthy  races  as  almost  beneath  our  considera- 
tion, have  hidden  from  the  eyes  of  Americans  the  features 
and  transactions  of,  as  it  were,  another  world  all  within 
itself. 

I have  described  in  the  previous  chapter  some  of  the 
numerous  popular  organizations  which  exist  in  their  na- 
tive land — their  clans,  their  trade  associations  or  guilds, 
their  town  and  district  councils,  and  their  clubs  or  com- 
panies for  various  specific  designs.  Let  me  proceed  to 
speak  of  the  companies  which  they  form  here. 

The  Chinese  “ companies”  in  San  Francisco,  with  their 
branches  in  the  principal  towns  of  the  State  and  neigh- 
boring regions  where  that  people  resort  in  large  num- 
bers, have  been  a continual  puzzle  to  Americans.  They 
have  regarded  them  as  a degraded  and  stupid  race, 
reared  under  a cruel  despotism,  and  most  of  them 
brought  here  under  the  name  of  “coolies”  to  work  for 
capitalists  who  owned  them  and  received  the  proceeds  of 
their  labor,  these  capitalists  being  the  heads  -of  the  com- 

554 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


555 


panies.  The  most  absurd  stories  of  this  hind  have  been 
incessantly  repeated  to  the  great  injury  of  the  Chinese 
by  newspapers  and  in  the  legislature.  My  acquaintance 
with  them,  and  the  entire  confidence  they  reposed  in 
me,  on  account  of  aid  often  rendered  to  them  in  their 
difficulties,  enabled  me  to  obtain  information  which  I now 
proceed  to  lay  before  the  reading  and  thinking  people 
of  the  country,  just  as  I often  have  spread  much  of  it 
before  the  people  of  various  parts  of  California. 

Wherever  a large  number  of  Chinese  from  one  pro- 
vince are  thrown  together  in  another  province  of  the 
empire,  or  in  any  of  the  countries  or  islands  whither 
they  trade  or  emigrate,  they  at  once  form  associations 
for  the  control,  protection  and  general  benefit  of  their 
members,  which  are  analogous  to  the  councils  of  their 
native  towns  and  districts.  Among  a people  of  so  much 
shrewdness  and  common  sense,  as  may  be  supposed, 
these  objects  are  thoroughly  accomplished.  First  let 
us  notice  their  houses  or  halls. 

Upon  the  southern  side  of  Telegraph  Hill,  which 
shields  on  the  north  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco 
from  the  ocean  winds  which  rush  through  the  Golden 
Gate,  a large  frame  structure  stands  conspicuous,  that 
is  evidently  of  Chinese  architecture,  yet  different  in  its 
appearance  from  the  Chinese  dwellings  in  the  city.  The 
front  is  painted  light  blue,  and  from  it  projects  an  airy 
portico.  A pair  of  lions,  carved  in  wood,  guard  the 
wide  doorway.  Above  and  on  either  side  of  it  are 
gilded  tablets,  with  upon  each  an  inscription  of  several 
large  Chinese  characters.  This  building  has  often  been 
referred  to  as  “ a temple.”  But  its  object  is  not  religious. 

It  is  an  Ui-Jeun  (pronounced  Ooy-lcoon ) or  company 


556 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


house.  The  large  tablet  over  the  door  tells,  if  English 
alphabetic  letters  be  employed  for  the  Chinese  characters, 
the  name  of  the  company, 

“YEUNG-tVO  UI-KUN.” 

The  two  perpendicular  inscriptions  on  either  side  are 
poetical  lines.  They  read  as  follows : 

TSEUNG  KWONG  HAM  MAN  LI. 

SUI  HI  P’0  t’ung  TAN. 

“ May  the  prosperous  light  fill  a thousand  leagues.” 

“May  the  auspicious  air  pervade  mankind.” 

The  two  smaller  lines  on  either  board  contain  the 
■words,  “ Set  up  on  a fortunate  day  of  the  8 th  month,  2 d 
year  of  the  Emperor  Ilienfung.” — “ Carved  by  Fan  Yi.” 

Upon  entering  the  house  by  the  side  door,  an  uncov- 
ered area,  in  accordance  with  the  Chinese  custom,  is  seen 
in  the  middle,  from  which  rooms  open  toward  the  front 
and  rear,  and  stairs  ascend  on  either  side  to  the  second 
story.  The  smaller  apartments  below  are  occupied  by 
the  managers  and  servants  of  the  company.  The  largest 
room  or  hall  is  pasted  over  with  sheets  of  red  paper 
covered  with  writing.  These  contain  a record  of  the 
name  and  residence  of  every  member  of  the  company, 
and  the  amount  of  his  subscription  to  the  general  fund. 
The  upper  story  and  the  attic,  with  the  outbuildings  on 
the  upper  side,  are,  it  may  he,  filled  with  lodgers,  nearly 
all  of  whom  are  staying  but  temporarily  on  a visit  from 
the  mines,  or  on  their  way  to  or  from  China.  A few 
sick  persons  lie  on  their  pallets  around,  and  a group 
here  and  there  discuss  a bowl  of  rice,  or  smoke  and  chat 
together.  In  the  rear  is  the  kitchen.  All  is  quiet,  or- 
derly and  neat. 

This  building  is  the  house  of  the  company,  which  em- 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


557 


braces,  since  scarcely  a solitary  individual  chooses  to 
separate  himself  from  association  with  his  own  neighbors 
and  people  or  deprive  himself  of  their  sympathy  and 
assistance,  the  entire  body  of  emigrants  from  three  beau- 
tiful and  rich  districts  which  lie  around  the  Pearl  river 
and  its  estuary  down  to  the  ocean.  Heang-shan,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  bay,  in  which  the  Portuguese  colony  of 
Macao  is  situated,  is  thirty  miles  long  from  north  to 
south,  and  twenty-five  miles  wide ; Tung-kwan  and 
Tsang-ching  are  each  larger,  but  have  less  intercourse 
with  foreigners.  The  company  had  some  years  ago 
another  building,  owned  by  the  three  districts  in  com- 
mon, at  Sacramento,  and  the  Heung-shan  men  had  one 
of  their  own  in  Stockton ; to  these  it  may  have  since 
added  others  elsewhere  as  they  have  been  needed  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  members,  especially  as  de- 
positories for  the  baggage  of  miners. 

For  the  full  information  of  the  people  of  our  own 
country  as  to  the  real  nature  of  these  “companies,” 
which  has  been  so  much  misunderstood  and  widely  mis- 
represented, and  in  order  to  show  in  a plain  and  con- 
vincing way  the  intelligence  and  capability  of  this  very 
practical  people,  I procured,  by  a formal  application 
to  the  Yeung-wo  company,  a copy  of  its  constitution  and 
rules,  a literal  translation  of  which,  sentence  for  sentence, 
I now  give : 

“NEW  RULES  OF  THE  YEUNG-WO  UI-KUN. 

“ Since  it  is  necessary  for  the  government  of  such  as- 
sociations, and  the  promotion  of  the  common  good,  that 
some  rules  should  be  adopted,  we,  members  of  the 
Yeung-wo  Company,  now  dwelling  in  a foreign  country, 


558 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


have  established  those  which  follow.  Those  which  for- 
merly existed  in  a general  form  we  deem  it  necessary  to 
draw  up  in  a new  and  definite  shape,  and  to  publish 
them  to  all  men,  since  successive  immigrations  have  be- 
come less  substantial  in  their  character,  and  troubles 
have  sprung  up  like  thorns.  They  are  in  conformity 
with  the  customs  of  the  foreign  country  in  which  we 
are  sojourning.  We  trust  they  will  be  exactly  observed 
by  common  consent.  They  were  adopted  in  the  fol- 
lowing order  on  a fortunate  day  of  the  ninth  month  of 
the  year  1854 : 

“ People  of  the  three  districts  of  Heung-shan,  Tung- 
yuen  and  Tsang-ching  are  required  to  report  themselves 
at  the  company’s  room  ; otherwise,  the  company  will  ex- 
ercise no  care  for  them  in  their  concerns. 

“ The  entrance  fee  shall  be  ten  dollars ; if  not  paid 
within  six  months,  interest  will  be  expected.  These  fees 
may  be  paid  to  collectors  sent  for  the  purpose  into  the 
Northern  and  Southern  Mines,  in  the  fourth  and  tenth 
month  of  each  year.  No  fees  will  be  required  from  those 
proved  to  be  invalids,  or  from  transient  persons.  Re- 
ceipts for  payment  of  fees  must  be  entered  on  the  books 
and  bear  the  company’s  seal.  Disputes  will  not  be  set- 
tled between  persons  who  have  not  paid  the  entrance  fee. 
Members  purposing  to  return  to  China  must  make  the 
fact  known  to  the  agents,  when  their  accounts  will  be 
examined,  and  measures  will  be  taken  to  prevent  it  if 
the  entrance  fee  or  other  debts  remain  unpaid.  Stran- 
gers to  the  agents  of  the  company  must  obtain  security 
in  persons  who  will  be  responsible  for  their  character 
and  debts.  Members  leaving  clandestinely  shall  be 
liable  to  a fine  of  fifty  dollars ; and  the  security  for  a 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


559 


debt  for  helping  one  thus  to  abscond  shall  be  fined  one 
hundred  dollars. 

“ In  the  company’s  house  there  must  be  no  conceal- 
ment of  stolen  goods;  no  strangers  brought  to  lodge; 
no  gunpowder  or  other  combustible  material ; no  gamb- 
ling ; no  drunkenness ; no  cooking  (except  in  the  proper 
quarters)  ; no  burning  of  sacrificial  papers ; no  accumu- 
lation of  baggage ; no  filth  ; no  bathing ; no  filching  of 
oil ; no  heaps  of  rags  and  trash ; no  wrangling  and 
noise;  no  injury  of  the  property  of  the  company;  no 
goods  belonging  to  thieves ; no  slops  of  victuals.  For 
the  weightier  of  these  offences  complaint  shall  be  made 
to  the  police  of  the  city  ; for  the  lighter,  persons  shall  be 
expelled  from  the  company.  Baggage  will  not  be  al- 
lowed to  remain  longer  than  three  years,  when  it  must 
be  removed ; nor  more  than  one  chest  to  each  person. 

“Invalids  that  cannot  labor,  are  poor  and  without 
relatives,  may  be  returned  to  China  at  the  expense  of 
the  company  for  their  passage-money;  but  provisions 
and  fuel  and  other  expenses  must  be  obtained  by  sub- 
scriptions. Coffins  may  be  furnished  for  the  poor,  but 
of  such  a careful  record  shall  be  kept. 

“ Quarrels  and  troubles  about  claims  in  the  mines 
should  be  referred  to  the  company,  where  they  shall  be 
duly  considered.  If  any  should  refuse  to  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  company,  it  will  nevertheless  assist  the 
injured  and  defend  them  from  violence.  If,  when 
foreigners  do  injury,  a complaint  is  made,  and  the  com- 
pany exerts  itself  to  have  justice  done,  without  avail,  it 
ought  to  be  submitted  to.  Whatever  is  referred  for  set- 
tlement to  the  assembly  of  the  five  companies  conjointly 
cannot  again  be  brought  before  this  company  alone. 


560 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


“ Where  a man  is  killed,  a reward  shall  be  offered  by 
the  conqoany  for  the  capture  and  trial  of  the  murderer, 
the  money  being  paid  only  when  be  has  been  seized;  the 
members  of  the  company  shall  subscribe  each  according 
to  what  is  just.  If  more  than  the  anticipated  amount 
is  required,  the  friends  of  the  deceased  shall  make  up 
the  deficiency.  Conrplaint  shall  be  made  of  offenders 
to  the  civil  court,  and  proclamations  for  their  arrest 
shall  be  placarded  in  the  principal  towns ; but  any  one 
found  guilty  of  concealing  them  shall  pay  all  the  ex- 
penses to  which  the  company  has  been  put.  Difficulties 
with  members  of  other  companies  shall  be  reported  to 
the  agents  of  this  company,  and,  if  justice  demand,  shall 
be  referred  for  the  judgment  of  the  five  companies  con- 
jointly. Offences  committed  on  shipboard,  upon  the  sea, 
shall  be  referred  to  the  five  companies  conjointly.  Diffi- 
culties brought  upon  men  by  their  own  vices  and  follies 
will  not  receive  attention.  Thievery  and  receiving  of 
stolen  goods  will  not  be  protected ; nor  will  troubles  in 
bawdy-hotrses,  nor  those  in  gambling-houses,  nor  debts 
to  such,  nor  extortions  of  secret  associations,  nor  the 
quarrels  of  such  associations,  nor  those  who  are  injured 
in  consequence  of  refusal  to  pay  their  licenses,  nor 
smuggling,  nor  any  violation  of  American  laws.  The 
company  will  not  consider  complaints  from  a distance  of 
a doubtful  character,  or  without  sufficient  proof.  No 
reply  will  be  made  to  anonymous  letters,  or  those  with- 
out date  and  a specification  of  the  true  origin  and  nature 
of  difficulties.  Names  must  be  carefully  given  in  all 
complaints  from  the  interior.  No  payments  of  money 
will  be  made  in  the  settlement  of  cases  where  the  rules 
of  the  company  are  not  complied  with.  Where  the  con- 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


561 


duct  of  an  individual  is  such  as  to  bring  disgrace  on  the 
company  and  upon  his  countrymen,  he  shall  he  expelled, 
and  a notice  to  that  effect  be  placarded  in  each  of  the  five 
companies’  houses;  nor  will  the  company  be  responsible 
for  any  of  his  subsequent  villainies,  or  even  make  any 
investigation  should  he  meet  with  any  violent  death. 
Costs  connected  with  the  settlement  of  disputes  shall  be 
borne  by  the  party  decided  to  be  in  the  wrong.  In 
difficulties  of  a pressing  and  important  character  in  the 
mines  a messenger  shall  be  sent  thence,  and  a judicious 
person  shall  at  once  accompany  him  to  the  place.  In 
any  quarrel  where  men  are  killed  or  wounded  the  per- 
son who  originated  it  shall  be  held  accountable.  Any 
defensive  weapons  belonging  to  the  company  shall  be 
given  to  individuals  only  after  joint  consultation,  and 
the  register  of  their  names.  Those  requiring  such  weap- 
ons for  defence  shall  give  security  for  their  return. 
If  any  shall  take  them  on  their  own  responsibility,  they 
shall  be  held  accountable  for  any  consequences. 

“ Any  one  using  the  seal  of  the  company,  or  address- 
ing a letter  in  its  behalf  unauthorized,  shall  be  severely 
censured  if  the  matter  be  unimportant;  if  a serious 
offence,  he  shall  be  handed  over  to  a court  of  law.  The 
parties  and  witnesses  in  cases  shall  be  examined  under 
oath.  Representatives  from  the  people  of  different  coun- 
ties and  townships  shall  be  notified  by  the  agents  of 
the  company  of  the  time  of  any  meeting ; and  when  as- 
sembled they  shall  not  leave  until  the  business  be  dis- 
patched. Notices  of  meetings  upon  urgent  business 
shall  be  marked  wTith  the  words  ‘ urgent  case ; ’ the 
representatives  so  informed  shall  be  fined  ten  dollars 
if  not  present  within  an  hour  of  the  time.  In  arbitra- 

36 


562 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tions  tlie  agents  of  tlie  company,  tlie  representatives  and 
the  witnesses  shall  all  be  put  on  oath. 

“ Claims  for  debts,  to  avoid  mistakes,  must  particular- 
ize the  true  name,  surname,  town  and  department  of  the 
debtor.  The  manager  of  the  company  shall  give  the 
claimant  an  acknowledgment,  which  shall  be  returned 
again  when  the  money  is  paid.  No  claim  can  be  pre- 
sented for  less  than  ten  dollars.  Claims  presented 
through  the  company  must,  when  afterward  paid,  bear 
the  receipt  of  the  company ; else  the  debtor  will  not  be 
allowed  to  return  to  China.  Persons  making  false  claims 
against  an  individual  shall  recompense  him  for  any  ex- 
penses to  which  he  shall  be  put  in  consequence  thereof. 
Accounts  must  be  acknowledged  by  the  debtor  to  be  cor- 
rect before  collection.  A person  appointed  as  collector 
must  give  a receipt  for  the  account.  A creditor  in  re- 
turning to  China  must  name  an  agent  who  will  receive 
the  payment  of  any  sums  due  to  him.  Accounts  sent 
from  China  for  collection  may  be  accepted  by  the  com- 
pany. The  manager  will  not  pay  over  collections  ex- 
cept upon  the  presentation  of  the  paper  of  acknowledg- 
ment he  has  previously  given.  Part  payments  must  bear 
the  receipt  of  the  company.  In  cases  of  dispute  about 
debt,  the  debtor  may  return  to  China  if  a representative 
from  his  district  is  willing  to  become  his  security.  Debt- 
ors shall  not  be  hindered  returning  to  China  on  their 
pleading  poverty  or  chronic  sickness.  In  losses  occa- 
sioned by  oversight  of  the  agent  he  shall  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  amount,  unless  he  declare  them  upon 
oath  to  have  been  not  fraudulent.  Claims  for  debt,  if 
unpaid,  must  be  again  put  on  record  at  the  expiration 
of  three  years.  Claims  presented  by  a member  of 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  Ilf  CALIFORNIA. 


563 


another  company  shall  he  certified  by  the  manager  of 
that  company,  and  when  recorded  shall  be  subject  to  a 
fee  of  twenty-five  cents. 

“This  company  shall  elect  three  managers;  one  to  at- 
tend to  the  internal  affairs,  one  to  attend  to  the  business 
with  Americans,  and  one  to  be  the  treasurer ; and  these 
shall  mutually  assist  one  another. 

“A  faithful  servant  shall  be  hired  as  a house-servant 
and  porter. 

“A  committee  of  four  shall  be  elected  as  counselors, 
who  shall  be  allowed  five  dollars  a month  for  refresh- 
ments. The  monthly  accounts  of  the  company  shall  be 
counted  till  the  last  Sunday  of  the  month,  on  which  day 
the  committee  shall  audit  and  publish  them  by  a placard. 

“The  treasurer  shall  never  retain  more  than  four 
hundred  dollars  in  his  own  hands  at  one  time ; and  his 
deposits  in  the  treasury,  and  payments  from  it,  shall  be 
under  the  supervision  of  the  committee  of  four.  The 
treasury  shall  have  four  different  padlocks,  and  each  of 
the  committee  shall  have  one  key.  The  treasurer  must 
always  be  present  when  money  is  taken  out. 

“Should  the  committee  employ  collectors  who  have 
not  been  duly  elected  by  the  company,  they  shall  be 
held  responsible  for  them.  The  accounts  of  the  company 
shall  be  closed  with  each  month,  that  there  be  no  private 
or  wasteful  employment  of  its  funds ; and  in  cases  of 
fraud  a meeting  shall  be  called  and  the  offender  expelled. 
When  inadvertent  mistakes  are  made  in  accounts,  the 
committee  shall  state  them  to  be  so  on  oath,  and  the  cor- 
rection shall  then  be  entered.  Managers  or  committee- 
men whose  accounts  are  not  clear  shall  be  censured. 
None  but  the  managers  shall  have  common  access  to  the 


564 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


account-books.  Payments  in  behalf  of  tbe  company 
shall,  -when  made  at  their  house,  be  endorsed  by  the 
committee,  but  in  the  interior  they  may  be  made  by  the 
proper  manager  alone.  The  office  of  the  managers  shall 
be  kept  open  daily  from  eight  o’clock  in  the  morning 
until  five  in  the  afternoon.  The  doors  shall  be  closed  at 
New  Year’s  for  three  days. 

“Managers  shall  not  use  offensive  language  toward 
each  other;  but  any  differences  shall  be  settled  by  a 
meeting  of  the  company.  If  lodgers  at  the  company’s 
house  do  not  comply  with  the  regulations  and  respect 
the  authority  of  the  managers,  they  shall  be  expelled  by 
a meeting  of  the  company.  Managers  who  may  be  remiss 
in  attending  at  the  office  shall  be  mulcted  to  twice  the 
amount  of  their  salary  for  the  time  lost.” 

In  the  summer  of  1854  I addressed  to  each  of  the 
companies  a series  of  questions  in  regard  to  their  princi- 
ples and  operations,  in  order  to  elicit  authentic  informa- 
tion which  I could  use  in  explaining  the  character  of 
the  Chinese  to  our  own  people.  The  answers  were  most 
clear  and  satisfactory.  I translate  one  of  them  verbatim 
as  a sample  of  the  whole.  The  comparison  of  the  com- 
pany to  “American  churches,”  which  is  made  in  this 
one  only,  and  the  careful  detail  of  its  benevolent  pur- 
poses, had  a rather  amusing  origin.  Not  long  previously 
the  superintendent  had  come  to  me  with  the  inquiry 
whether  it  would  not  be  possible  to  have  their  building 
made  free  of  taxes,  as  he  understood  that  American 
churches  and  benevolent  institutions  were  granted  that 
privilege.  I explained  to  him  that  a club  or  company 
of  its  character,  designed  in  the  first  place  for  purposes 
of  mutual  convenience,  had  no  more  right  to  claim  such 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA.  565 


immunity  than  a hotel,  which  often  gives  food  and  lodg- 
ing to  the  distressed  or  to  beggars,  or  than  a multitude 
of  associations  which  from  their  nature  must  in  some 
cases  relieve  suffering.  He  determined,  however,  to 
attain  his  object  by  some  means  or  other,  and  made 
application  for  the  release  of  the  building  from  taxation, 
on  the  ground  of  its  belonging  to  a benevolent  institu- 
tion. He  put  over  the  entrance  to  it  a sign  designating 
it  an  “Asylum and  besides,  to  carry  out  his  purpose, 
induced  the  company  to  order  an  image  of  the  god 
Kwan-ti  from  China,  and  set  apart  a large  room  for  the 
worship  of  it.  This  he  told  American  visitors  was  a 
“ Chinese  church !”  His  efforts,  however,  failed,  for  on 
my  furnishing  the  assessors  with  an  exact  account  of  the 
purposes  of  the  company  the  tax  was  laid  upon  the 
house,  much  to  his  disgust.  With  the  exception  of  this, 
the  brief  compendium  given  is  fair  and  reliable.  The 
“Four  Districts,”  with  the  other  two  subsequently  con- 
nected with  them  in  the  company,  are  all  in  the  province 
of  Canton  and  not  remote  from  its  capital  city. 

“SZE-YAP  COMPANY. 

“ Our  house  is  built  throughout  of  brick.  It  is  sur- 
rounded also  by  a brick  wall.  It  is  situated  in  Pine 
street,  San  Francisco.  We  have  also  a frame  house  in 
Sacramento.  The  company  was  originally  composed  of 
people  from  the  four  districts  of  San-ning,  San-ui,  Hoi- 
ping  and  Yan-ping ; hence  our  name,  Sze-yap  (which 
means  ‘four  districts’).  Afterward  men  from  the  two 
districts  of  Hok-shan  and  Sze-ui  also  entered  it.  We 
did  not,  however,  change  our  name  on  this  account. 

“In  China  it  is  common  to  have  councils,  and  in 


566 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


foreign  countries  ui-kuns , or  company-halls.  The  ob- 
ject is  to  improve  the  life  of  their  members  and  to 
instruct  them  in  principles  of  benevolence.  They  are 
somewhat  like  American  churches.  The  buildings  fur- 
nish beds,  fuel  and  water  to  guests  who  remain  but  for  a 
short  period ; also  a lodging-place  and  medicines  for  the 
infirm,  aged  and  sick.  Means  are  bestowed  upon  the 
latter  to  enable  them  to  return  to  China. 

“ There  are  three  agents  employed  by  the  company, 
also  a servant  who  sweeps  the  house. 

“ The  number  of  our  members  that  have  arrived  in 
this  port,  according  to  the  record  made  at  their  landing, 
from  the  first  until  December  31,  1854,  has  been  about 
16,500.  Of  these  there  have  returned  perhaps  3,700. 
In  April  of  last  year  above  3,400  separated  and  formed 
the  Ning-yeung  Company.  More  than  300  have  died. 
There  are  at  present  in  California,  altogether,  about 
9,200.  We  do  not  know  the  number  who  have  left  this 
for  other  countries. 

“ Except  the  buildings  used  by  the  company,  we  have 
no  other  property.  This  has  been  purchased  by  the 
members,  who  have  subscribed  of  their  free-will,  some 
twenty,  some  fifteen,  some  ten  dollars.  A portion  has 
been  paid  in ; some  will  be  paid  when  they  are  ready  to 
return  home.  This  is  a perfectly  voluntary  matter; 
there  has  been  no  coercion  used.  Nor  is  any  money 
required  from  the  disabled,  the  sick,  the  aged,  or  those 
making  a second  voyage  to  this  country. 

“ The  objects  to  which  the  subscriptions  of  the  com- 
pany have  been  devoted  are  as  follows : 

“1.  The  purchase  of  ground  and  erection  of  the 
buildings  used  by  us. 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


567 


“ 2.  The  salaries  of  agents  and  servants. 

“ 3.  Tor  fuel,  water,  candles  and  oil. 

“ 4.  To  assist  the  sick  to  return  home. 

“ o.  For  the  bestowment  of  medicines. 

“ 6.  For  coffins  and  funeral  expenses  of  the  poor. 

“ 7.  For  the  repairs  of  tombs. 

“ 8.  Expenses  of  lawsuits. 

“ 9.  Taxes  upon  our  frame  house  at  Sacramento. 

“ 10.  Drayage  and  other  outlays  for  passengers  land- 
ing or  departing  by  ship. 

“ The  unpaid  subscriptions  amount  to  $35,000 ; the 
names  of  others  who  have  not  yet  stated  the  amount  they 
intend  to  give  will  be  good  for  perhaps  $6,700  more. 

“ The  agents  of  the  company  are  elected.  At  the 
election  all  the  districts  must  have  a voice.  If  from  any 
one  no  members  are  present,  it  must  be  heard  from. 
The  agents  must  be  men  of  tried  honesty,  and  are  re- 
quired to  furnish  security  before  they  enter  upon  their 
office.  Their  election  is  for  the  term  of  six  months,  of 
the  expiration  of  which  they  must  give  notice  and  call  a 
new  election.  But  if  they  be  found  faithful  to  their 
duties,  they  are  eligible  to  re-election. 

“ Our  company  has  never  employed  men  to  work  in 
the  mines  for  their  own  profit,  nor  have  they  ever  pur- 
chased any  slaves  or  used  them  here.” 

Thus  ends  the  exact  translation  of  the  rules  of  these 
“ Chinese  companies,”  institutions  which  have  alarmed 
and  distressed  so  many  good  people  in  California  and 
throughout  the  United  States;  which  have  been  made  a 
ground  of  so  much  reproach  against  them,  on  the  part 
of  interested  politicians  and  others  inimical  to  them ; 
but  institutions  which  have  no  parallel  for  utility  and 


568 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


philanthropy  among  the  immigrants  from  any  other 
nation  or  people  to  our  wide  shores. 

It  has  been  objected  to  these  companies  that  they 
have  brought  slaves  to  this  country  to  work  in  the  mines. 
But  they  have  all  declared  that  they  have  never  owned, 
imported  or  employed  any  slaves.  There  is  slavery,  or 
peonage,  of  a certain  kind  in  China,  but  it  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  bondage  of  Africans  as  formerly  seen  in 
the  United  States.  It  is  said  there  are  a few,  certainly 
not  a hundred  individuals,  of  that  class  here ; but  they 
never  have  been  employed  by  the  companies  and  work 
probably  on  their  own  account.  Americans  have  nothing 
to  fear  from  that  source. 

The  funds  of  the  companies  are  not  used  for  mercan- 
tile purposes,  or  to  obtain  revenue,  and  indeed  are  paid 
out  nearly  as  fast  as  they  come  in.  The  treasuries  of 
several  of  these  companies  are  now  empty  or  in  debt. 
Many  of  their  people  never  become  able  to  pay  their 
fees,  and  are  on  the  other  hand  sources  of  great  expense. 
The  salaries  of  the  managers  and  clerks  are  usually  from 
eighty  to  a hundred  dollars  each  per  month ; those  of  the 
servants,  perhaps  sixty  dollars.  The  only  property  held 
by  the  companies  is  just  what  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
accomplish  their  objects ; such  as  a lot  of  ground,  house 
and  furniture  in  San  Francisco,  and  a house  perhaps 
at  Sacramento,  Stockton  and  other  principal  towns  in 
whose  vicinity  their  members  mine  or  trade. 

Conveniences  are  afforded  by  the  companies’  houses, 
for  lodging  and  the  storage  of  baggage,  and  they  are  a 
headquarters  where  friends  and  acquaintances  from  the 
same  locality  may  meet;  just  as  if  the  citizens  of  Massa- 
chusetts, New  York,  Pennsylvania  or  Louisiana  should 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


569 


erect  separate  club-houses  in  San  Francisco  and  other 
towns  in  California,  to  be  places  of  general  rendezvous 
for  the  people  of  those  States.  These  companies  are  a 
great  saving  of  expense  and  trouble  to  the  Chinese,  and 
are  a remarkable  illustration  of  their  practical  wisdom. 

Great  facilities  are  afforded  through  the  companies 
for  the  collection  of  debts.  Accounts  are  sent,  if  there 
be  any  doubt  about  their  payment,  to  the  agents  at  San 
Francisco.  Here  the  people  are  constantly  going  and 
coming ; debtors  can  be  more  easily  reached ; their  cir- 
cumstances are  known  ; and  if  they  refuse  to  pay,  com- 
plaints are  made  to  our  courts  of  law,  they  are  arrested 
and  the  claims  are  obtained. 

Disputes  between  miners  and  others  are  settled  at  the 
company  houses  without  the  expense,  delay  and  trouble 
of  a resort  to  our  courts  of  law.  A friendly  arbitration 
is  held  before  a meeting  of  their  company,  or  before  a 
joint  committee  of  the  five  companies,  where  the  case  is 
more  difficult,  or  when  persons  of  different  districts  are 
involved.  The  proceedings  On  these  occasions  are  gen- 
erally calm,  judicious  and  satisfactory  to  the  disputants. 
In  former  days,  encouraged  by  the  examples  of  lynch- 
ing among  our  own  people,  the  companies  sometimes 
took  the  law  into  their  own  hands  so  far  as  to  inflict 
corporal  punishment  upon  offenders  in  their  houses,  but 
such  practices  are  now  disclaimed  by  them.  Those 
doings  are  now  past,  and  offenders  are  handed  over  by 
them  to  our  courts  in  cases  which  their  counsels  cannot 
adjust.  These  associations  have  been  of  much  service  to 
the  Chinese.  Without  them  California  could  not  have 
been  so  exempt  from  crime  and  strifes  among  them. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  companies  have  generally 


570 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TUE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


thus  far  been  beneficial  in  their  influence.  They  have 
been  most  useful  in  the  unsettled  and  lawless  condition 
of  our  own  people  in  earlier  days,  and  in  districts  where 
such  a state  of  things  now  exists.  It  was  in  such  cir- 
cumstances right  and  proper  that  these  people  should 
make  for  themselves  temporary  arrangements  and  rules 
with  a binding  force  even  akin  to  law,  just  as  the  same 
thing  is  necessary  among  a train  of  emigrants  crossing 
the  plains  to  Oregon  or  California,  or  a party  of  miners 
upon  a prospecting  expedition  to  a remote  or  unknown 
region.  These  rules  accomplish  the  ends  of  mutual  as- 
sistance, the  promotion  of  order  and  the  punishment  of 
the  unruly.  Yet  it  is,  of  course,  understood  that  in  all 
of  them  the  laws  of  the  country  are  acknowledged  to  be 
fundamental.  What  may  be  constituted  by  any  such 
association  is  but  supplementary  to  the  laws  of  the  coun- 
try for  purposes  which  they  could  not  reach  or  par- 
ticularize. 

But  when  American  society  becomes  more  settled, 
itself  under  the  influence  of  law  and  a correct  moral 
sentiment,  and  the  Chinese  secure  in  the  possession  of 
the  ordinary  rights  of  humanity,  it  is  desirable  that 
these  companies  should  be  discouraged.  They  tend  to 
perpetuate  the  local  feuds  and  jealousies  of  the  far-off 
communities  from  which  these  strangers  come.  They 
give  cunning  and  troublesome  men  opportunities  of 
undue  influence  over  them  in  this  land.  The  money 
collected  is  a source  of  corruption  in  various  ways,  and 
has  occasioned  suits  in  our  courts  in  which  large  amounts 
obtained  from  members,  many  of  whom  were  at  a dis- 
tance and  could  not  prevent  the  wrong,  have  been 
squandered.  There  is  danger  of  occasional  interference 


THE  CHINESE  COMPANIES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


571 


from  tliem  with  our  institutions,  and  of  their  being  made 
in  the  future,  when,  at  least,  children  born  in  this  country 
shall  become  voters,  an  engine  for  evil  in  the  hands  of 
politicians.  And  it  is  in  connection  with  these  compa- 
nies chiefly  that  the  public  forms  of  idol-worship  will 
be  maintained,  and  the  spirit  of  love  of  country  and 
kindred  be  appealed  to  in  order  to  prevent  their  people 
being  brought  under  Christian  influence  or  conforming 
to  our  civilization.  Hence  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  with- 
out interfering  with  them  by  legislative  or  public  means 
so  long  as  they  do  not  violate  our  laws,  kindly  influences 
will  be  exerted  gradually  to  win  the  Chinese  individually 
from  their  control,  and  to  make  these  people  feel  that 
their  protection  and  welfare  are  to  be  promoted  by  a 
closer  union  with  the  better  elements  of  the  American 
population,  and  by  falling  into  the  general  current  of 
our  opinions,  usages  and  religion. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS, 


STRANGE  scene  was  witnessed  in  one  of  the  prin^ 


cipal  mining  counties  of  California.  A company 
of  Chinese  had  purchased  at  a large  sum  some  claims 
covering  the  bed  of  a river,  and  undertaken  to  turn  the 
stream,  in  order  to  reach  the  gold  deposited  there,  as  is 
often  done  by  the  Americans.  A quiet  little  settlement 
was  formed  on  the  shore,  and  two  firms  of  Chinese  mer- 
chants set  up  stores  there.  A large  amount  of  money 
was  expended  for  lumber  and  other  necessary  articles. 
The  work  was  successful.  The  Chinese  began  to  reap 
the  reward  of  their  toil  and  outlay. 

One  dark  night  a band  of  seven  armed  white  men 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  camp.  Attacking  the  unsus- 
pecting Chinese  with  unearthly  yells,  and  firing  their 
pistols  among  them,  they  put  them  to  flight  and  chased 
them  to  some  distance  from  the  spot.  They  proceeded 
to  seize  the  gold  that  could  be  found.  Then  they  en- 
tered the  stores  and  plundered  them  of  money  and  such 
articles  as  were  of  any  use  to  them  to  the  value  of  two 
thousand  dollars.  To  end  the  work  they  set  fire  to  the 
buildings,  and  by  the  light  thus  made  carried  their  plun- 
der to  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  where  they  com- 
posedly set  themselves  down  as  the  proprietors  of  the 
whole  claim  by  the  right  of  possession. 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


573 


Some  friends  of  the  Chinese  brought  suit  against 
these  scoundrels  before  a neighboring  justice  for  the 
restoration  of  the  property.  In  defence  the  men  set 
up  a remarkable  plea.  It  was  simply  this,  that  “ they 
thought  the  Chinese  could  not  work  the  claim  to  so  good 
advantage  as  they  could.”  And — what  is  still  more 
remarkable — their  friend,  the  justice,  gave  a decision  in 
their  favor  on  the  ground  of  this  plea ! The  friends  of 
the  Chinese  next  tried  to  bring  a suit  against  these  men 
at  the  county-seat  for  larceny  and  incendiarism..  But 
though  some  Americans  in  the  vicinity  of  the  place  had 
seen  the  fire  and  the  carrying  of  the  goods  across  the 
river,  none  were  found  willing  or  able  to  identify  the 
robbers.  The  Chinese  who  knew  them  were  not  per- 
mitted, according  to  law,  to  bear  witness  against  white 
men.  The  result  was  that  the  perpetrators  of  these 
crimes  went  free  and  remained  in  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty which  they  so  summarily  had  made  their  own.  The 
industrious  Chinese,  beggared  and  in  debt,  were  forced 
to  leave  the  place. 

There  was  a similar  occurrence,  which  took  place  at  a 
bar  in  another  river,  not  long  afterward.  A man  sold  a 
claim  to  Chinese  miners.  They  industriously  began  to 
work  it.  Three  days  subsequently  he  came  back,  asserted 
that  it  was  his  and  undertook  to  drive  them  away. 
They  resisted.  A fight  ensued,  in  which  he  struck,  or 
kicked,  one  of  them  so  as  to  fracture  the  thigh  bone. 
Another  he  struck  with  a revolver  under  the  ear  so  as 
to  terribly  bruise  his  neck  and  jaw  and  prevent  his 
taking  nourishment  except  in  soup  or  other  liquid  forms. 
The  same  man  received  another  dangerous  blow  upon 
the  spine.  His  life  was  despaired  of  for  a time.  The 


574 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chinese,  however,  succeeded  in  holding  the  claim.  The 
white  man  escaped  without  punishment. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  continue  the  painful  recital. 
Who  committed  these  barbarous  and  cruel  wrongs,  such 
as  it  would  scarcely  have  been  imagined  could  occur  in 
a civilized  and  Christian  country?  It  was  not  often 
Americans.  A cloud  of  villains  of  every  country  and 
complexion — English  convicts  from  Australia,  Spanish 
and  Mexican  robbers,  low  and  vicious  white  foreigners 
of  other  nations — hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  laborious  Chi- 
nese. They  went  in  gangs  and  made  robbery  a business. 
They  stealthily  watched  the  Chinese  miners,  kept  out 
of  sight  of  the  better  class  of  white  people  who  wrere 
friendly  to  them,  and  when  a favorable  opportunity 
would  arrive,  pounced  down  upon  them  and  plundered 
them,  sometimes  those  of  several  camps  in  one  night. 
If  resisted,  they  maimed  or  murdered  them  without 
scruple.  It  was  counted  rather  a matter  of  sport,  like 
a deer  or  bear  hunt,  to  rush  into  a Chinese  mining  camp 
at  midnight,  wake  the  occupants  with  hellish  yells,  dis- 
charge their  pistols  among  them  and  plunder  the  tents 
or  cabins  of  whatever  was  valuable. 

These  robbers  and  murderers  were,  however,  often 
quite  conscientious.  Just  as  in  Italy  the  same  class 
make  scrupulous  distinctions  pf  right  and  wrong,  honor 
and  dishonor  in  their  transactions,  and  ask  the  friendly 
help  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  saints  when  about  to  en- 
gage in  them,  so  these  gentry  in  California  satisfied  their 
minds  that  it  was  a religious  duty  to  rob  and  shoot 
heathen.  A Mexican,  who  was  hung  at  Mariposa  much 
in  opposition  to  his  judgment  of  what  was  right  in  the 
matter,  protested  to  the  last  that  his  case  was  a very 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


575 


hard  one.  It  was  true  that  he  had  killed  and  robbed  a 
good  many  Chinese.  “ But,”  said  he,  decidedly,  “ Chris- 
tian people  ought  not  to  hang  me  for  that.”  The 
Americans,  however,  viewed  it  differently  and  swung 
him  to  the  limb  of  a tree,  that  the  example  might  shed 
light  as  to  some  of  the  first  principles  of  morals  upon 
the  consciences  of  some  of  his  companions.  A few  such 
acts  of  justice  have  a marked  illuminating  effect  upon 
the  minds  of  men  like  these. 

It  wTas  the  saddest  feature  of  the  terrible  trials  of  the 
Chinese  that  so  many  of  them  were  inflicted  in  the  name 
of  the  law.  The  license  law  of  the  State  subjected  all 
foreigners  “ not  eligible  to  citizenship”  to  a monthly  tax 
of  four  dollars.  This  was  applied  by  the  tax-collectors 
solely  to  the  case  of  the  Chinese.  An  army  of  them 
ranged  continually  over  the  mining  districts  equipped 
with  blank  licenses.  They  often  compelled  the  Chinese 
in  a camp  to  pay  the  mining  license,  though  they  might 
not  be  engaged  in  mining,  and  wefe  traders,  or  cooks,  or 
men  engaged  in  other  work,  or  transient  visitors,  or  even 
sometimes  though  they  were  invalids,  who  were  disabled 
by  fever  or  rheumatism  or  accidents.  They  frequently 
came  back  before  the  month  was  out,  or  one  would 
follow  another,  giving  fictitious  receipts.  If  the  men 
refused  to  pay,  they  struck,  stabbed  or  shot  them ; per- 
haps tied  them  to  a tree  and  whipped  them ; perhaps 
drove  them  on  foot  with  a horsewhip,  the  collector 
riding  behind  lashing  them  as  they  ran,  to  some  town 
where  they  could  exercise  other  compulsory  measures. 
A tax-collector  in  the  mountains  once  related  to  a com- 
pany of  persons,  in  my  hearing,  with  great  glee,  how  he 
had  so  “run”  some  Chinamen  on  a dark  night,  when 


576 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  EE  WEST  EXPIRE. 


the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  in  which  they  often 
fell  down,  he  yelling  and  lashing  them  from  his  horse. 
The  collectors  were  often  followed  by  cormorants  to 
whom  they  sold  for  a trifle  the  property  of  Chinese 
which  they  had  “forfeited”  for  non-payment.  And 
when  there  were  none  so  to  purchase,  these  officials 
sometimes  in  mere  wantonness  destroyed  bedding,  boots 
and  other  articles. 

The  wretches  who  committed  all  these  atrocities  felt 
secure  under  a threefold  cover.  First,  but  few  compara- 
tively of  the  Chinese  could  speak  our  language,  or  knew 
how  to  obtain  justice.  In  the  next  place,  the  “officers 
of  justice”  were  too  often  under  the  control  of  the  men 
who  committed  the  offences.  They  were  nominated  and 
elected  by  them,  and  these  villains  were  careful  to  let  it 
be  known  that  their  votes  would  be  cast  against  any  man 
who  favored  the  Chinese.  And  of  even  the  poor  priv- 
ilege which  a dog  enjoys,  to  bark  at  the  hand  that  has 
smitten  him,  these  striangers  have  been  deprived.  They 
have  not  been  allowed  to  speak  out  in  an  American 
court  and  say,  “ This  was  the  man  that  shot  down  before 
my  eyes,  in  cold  blood,  my  brother,  and  robbed  his 
dying  body  of  the  gold  for  which  he  had  been  slavishly 
toiling  for  years  in  order  that  he  might  send  it  home  to 
make  more  happy  the  old  age  of  our  father  and  mother.” 
They  have  not  been  permitted  to  open  their  lips  before 
a magistrate  against  the  band  of  foreign  cut-throats  who 
the  winter  through  have  gone  from  one  lonely  camp  to 
another  among  the  gulches  compelling  the  miners  to  re- 
veal the  place  where  they  had  hidden  their  dust — per- 
haps by  the  argument  of  a rope  round  their  necks,  the 
other  end  of  which  was  drawn  across  a beam  overhead 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


577 


until  they  had  but  the  choice  to  give  up  or  die,  perhaps 
by  that  of  a loaded  revolver,  or  a sharp  knife — and  to 
declare,  “I  know  this  one  by  his  black  skin,  by  the  scar 
across  his  right  cheek,  by  his  low  forehead  and  ma- 
licious scowl,  and  by  his  coat  and  sash.  I know  him 

well — his  name  is  They  could  not  asseverate 

before  a tribunal  which  had  the  power  to  correct  the 
grievance,  “ I paid  on  such  a day  five  hundred  dollars  to 
the  defendant,  and  he  has  violently,  by  force  of  arms, 
dispossessed  me  of  the  property.”  The  Supreme  Court 
of  California,  in  1855,  made  a decision,  in  order  to  ex- 
clude all  Chinese  testimony  against  white  men,  which 
briefly  amounts  to  this:  first,  a native  of  China  is  an 
African  negro ; second,  a native  of  China  is  an  American 
Indian ; third,  a native  of  China  has  no  rights  which  an 
American  white  man  is  bound  to  respect ; therefore  mur- 
derers and  robbers  of  any  nation  may  commit  what 
crime  they  please  against  such  without  concern  as  to 
American  courts. 

The  conduct  of  the  Chinese  under  their  accumulated 
trials  was  wonderfully  prudent,  conciliatory  and  respect- 
ful. They  did  not  attempt  to  organize  resistance  to  those 
who  oppressed  and  injured  them,  even  where  they  had 
the  power  temporarily  to  do  so ; for  they  knew  that  this 
would  fearfully  react  upon  them.  They  patiently  bore 
what  they  could  not  avoid.  If  driven  from  one  place, 
they  quietly  went  to  work  at  another.  In  their  inter- 
course with  the  whites  they  were  charitable  to  the  suffer- 
ing and  ready  to  give  to  public  claims ; and  they  always 
supported  their  own  poor.  Thus  they  won  the  cordial 
friendship  of  the  more  respectable  and  moral  classes  who 
became  acquainted  with  them,  and  who,  notwithstanding 

. 37 


578 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  repulsiveness  of  some  of  their  vices,  could  not  but 
become  enlisted  in  their  defence. 

In  1855,  after  one  of  Gov.  John  Bigler’s  denunciatory 
messages  to  the  legislature  in  regard  to  them,  a very  in- 
telligent and  gentlemanly  merchant,  Mr.  Lai  Chun- 
chuen,  put  in  my  hands  a reply,  in  behalf  of  the  mer- 
chants of  San  Francisco,  with  the  request  that  it  might 
be  translated  and  published  in  our  language.  It  at- 
tracted much  attention  at  the  time,  and  extracts  from  it 
were  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  Atlantic  States. 
The  following  passages  give  a fair  specimen  of  it.  The 
reader  will  probably  join  in  the  conclusion  of  most  of 
those  who  have  seen  it,  that  our  Chinese  friend  had  the 
best  of  the  battle: 

“ We  have  read  the  message  of  the  Governor. 

“ First.  It  is  stated  that  ‘ too  large  a number  of  the 
men  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom  have  emigrated  to  this 
country,  and  that  they  have  come  without  their  fami- 
lies.’ Among  the  reasons  for  this  course  we  may  men- 
tion the  following : The  wives  of  the  better  families  of 
China  have  generally  compressed  feet.  They  are  ac- 
customed to  live  in  the  utmost  privacy.  They  are  un- 
used to  wind  and  waves.  And  it  is  exceedingly  difficult 
to  bring  families  upon  distant  voyages  over  great  oceans. 
However,  a few  have  come ; nor  are  they  all  who  may 
do  so.  But  there  have  been  several  injunctions  warning 
the  people  of  the  Flowery  Land  not  to  come  here,  which 
have  awakened  anxiety,  so  that  our  minds  have  not  been 
satisfied  as  to  the  possibility  of  bringing  families. 

“ Some  have  remarked  that  ‘ immigrants  from  other 
foreign  countries  bring  their  families;  their  homes  are 
distributed  over  your  State : some  engage  in  manual  em- 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


579 


ployments  and  amass  wealth ; thus  mutual  interests 
are  created,  mutual  civilities  extended  and  common 
sympathies  excited ; but,  while  in  every  respect  they 
adopt  your  customs,  on  the  contrary,  the  Chinese  do 
not.’  To  this  we  rejoin,  that  the  manners  and  customs 
of  China  and  of  foreign  countries  are  dissimilar.  Its 
ancient  ideas  are  prevalent  yet.  But  what  if,  as  foreign- 
ers, we  do  differ  somewhat  from  your  honorable  nation 
in  hats  and  clothes  and  other  small  matters,  while  there 
is  much  that  is  common  ? In  China  itself  people  differ. 
In  China  there  are  some  dissimilarities  in  the  inhabitants 
of  various  provinces,  or  departments,  or  counties,  or 
townships,  or  even  villages.  Their  dialects,  their  man- 
ners, their  sentiments,  do  not  wholly  accord.  Their  arti- 
cles of  use  are  not  all  made  by  one  rule.  Their  common 
customs  all  differ.  One  line  cannot  be  drawn  for  all. 
And  just  so  it  must  be  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  It 
would  certainly  appear  unreasonable,  when  the  officers 
and  merchants  of  your  honorable  country  come  to  our 
Middle  Kingdom,  were  they  to  be  rebuked  for  not  know- 
ing our  language,  or  for  not  being  acquainted  with  our 
affairs. 

“ It  is  objected  against  us  that  ‘ vagabonds  gather  in 
various  places  and  live  by  gambling.’  But  collections 
of  gamblers  as  well  as  dens  of  infamous  women  are  for- 
bidden in  China  by  law.  These  are  offences  that  admit 
of  a clear  definition.  Our  mercantile  class  have  a uni- 
versal contempt  for  such.  But  obnoxious  as  they  are,  we 
have  no  power  to  drive  them  away.  We  have  often 
wished  these  things  were  prevented,  but  we  have  no 
influence  that  can  reach  them.  We  hope  and  pray 
that  your  honorable  country  will  enact  vigorous  laws  by 


580 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


■which  brothels  and  gambling-places  may  be  broken  up, 
and  thus  worthless  fellows  be  compelled  to  follow  some 
honest  employment,  gamblers  to  change  their  calling, 
and,  moreover,  your  own  policemen  and  petty  officials 
be  deprived  of  many  opportunities  of  trickery  and  ex- 
tortion. Harmony  and  prosperity  may  then  prevail,  and 
the  days  await  us  when  each  man  can  in  peace  engage 
in  his  own  sphere  of  duty.  Such  is  the  earnest  desire 
of  the  merchants  who  present  this. 

“ It  is,  we  are  assured,  the  principle  of  the  government 
of  your  honorable  country  to  assure  the  peace  of  the 
common  people,  and  that  it  has  at  heart  benevolence  to 
all  mankind.  Now  the  natives  of  China  and  of  othei 
countries  possess  one  common  nature.  All  must  agree 
that  good  and  evil  do  not  exist  anywhere  alone.  All 
nations  are  really  the  same.  Confucius  says,  ‘ Though  a 
city  have  but  ten  houses,  there  must  be  some  in  it  who 
are  honest  and  true.’  Suppose  then  we  see  it  officially 
declared  that  ‘ the  people  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom  are 
altogether  without  good  in  them,’  we  cannot  but  be  ap- 
prehensive that  the  rulers  do  not  exercise  a liberal  spirit, 
and  that  they  yield  their  own  knowledge  of  right  to  an 
undue  desire  to  please  men. 

“ But  of  late  days  your  honorable  people  have  estab- 
lished a new  usage.  They  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  we  Chinese  are  the  same  as  Indians  and  negroes, 
and  will  not  allow  us  to  bear  witness  in  your  courts ! 
And  yet  these  Indians  know  nothing  about  the  relations 
of  society ; they  know  no  mutual  respect ; they  wear 
neither  clothes  nor  shoes ; they  live  in  caves  and  wild 
places.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  honorable  position 
that  China  has  maintained  for  many  thousands  of  years, 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


581 


upon  tlie  wisdom  transmitted  by  her  philosophers,  upon 
her  array  of  civil  and  of  military  powers,  upon  the  fame 
of  her  civilization,  upon  the  wealth  and  the  populousness 
of  her  possessions,  upon  the  cordial  tenderness  with 
which  successive  dynasties  of  emperors  have  treated 
strangers,  deeming  native  or  foreigner  all  as  one,  and 
then  behold  the  people  of  other  nations  heap  ridicule 
upon  us  as  if  we  were  the  same  as  Indians, — we  ask,  is 
it  possible  that  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
Heaven? — is  it  possible  that  this  is  the  mind  of  the 
officers  and  the  people  of  your  honorable  country  ? — can 
it  be  possible  that  we  are  classed  as  equals  with  this 
uncivilized  race  of  men  ? 

“ Finally.  It  is  said  that  ‘ henceforth  you  desire  to 
prevent  the  immigration  of  people  of  the  Flowery  Land.’ 
Hitherto  our  people  have  been  interested  in  your  sacred 
doctrines.  We  have  tried  to  exercise  modesty  and  reason. 
If  we  can  henceforth  treat  each  other  with  mutual  cour- 
tesy, then  we  shall  be  glad  to  dwell  within  your  honor- 
able boundaries.  But  if  the  rabble  are  to  harass  us,  we 
■wish  to  return  to  our  former  homes.  And.  we  will 
speedily  send  and  prevent  the  embarkation  of  any  that 
have  not  yet  come.” 

This  letter  of  Lai  Chun-chuen,  numerous  articles  ex- 
plaining their  peculiarities,  the  efforts  of  their  friends  in 
their  behalf  and  the  general  sense  of  their  importance 
as  tax-payers  and  laborers,  created  a more  just  public 
opinion  in  favor  of  the  Chinese.  A law  which  had  been 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  winter  of  1854-55  to 
exclude  them  from  the  mines  was  repealed  by  that  of 
the  winter  following.  But  yet  they  were  unceasingly 
harassed  by  lawless  men.  Sometimes  a public  meeting 


582 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


was  held  in  a mining  district,  or  in  a county,  where  they 
had  made  large  investments  and  were  quietly  and  indus- 
triously pursuing  their  callings,  and  under  the  influence 
of  men  who  were  generally  either  foreigners  or  unprin- 
cipled persons  who  were  willing  to  follow  at  their  bid- 
ding and  help  them  in  their  iniquitous  proceedings, 
resolutions  were  adopted  to  drive  out  the  Chinese.  No- 
tice was  immediately  served  upon  them  to  leave  by  a 
certain  day.  If  they  had  not  abandoned  the  ground  by 
the  appointed  time,  at  whatever  sacrifices,  losses  and 
suffering,  they  were  hunted  out  by  armed  men  and  their 
property  seized  or  destroyed. 

It  was  not  alone  the  Chinese  miners  who  suffered  by 
these  lawless  and  cruel  acts.  Where  they  were  beg- 
gared, their  merchants  and  Americans  to  whom  they 
owed  money  for  lumber,  clothing,  tools,  provisions,  etc., 
necessarily  shared  in  the  loss.  And  the  prosperity  of 
various  parts  of  the  State  was  materially  injured  by  the 
outrages  which  drunken,  worthless  men,  who  were  com- 
paratively but  a handful  of  the  population,  were  allowed 
to  commit.  And,  indeed,  there  was  scarcely  a manufac- 
turing, mercantile  or  transporting  interest  in  the  State 
which  was  not  more  or  less  affected  by  the  troubles  of 
this  large  and  industrious  class.1 

1 The  statement  of  the  editor  of  a newspaper  published  in  one  of  the  northern 
mining  counties  of  California  illustrates  this  point : 

“For  two  vears  past,  a very  large  portion  of  the  gold  taken  from  the  mines 
has  been  the  product  of  Chinese  labor,  and  the  traders  in  mining  localities  can 
attest  that  a very  small  portion  of  this  has  ever  been  carried  out  of  the  country, 
the  assertions  of  city  editors  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Chinese  labor 
has  literally  kept  alive  the  trade  of  most  of  the  mining  towns  during  the  past 
season.  The  richer  mines — all  claimed  or  owned  by  the  whites — have  been 
poorly  supplied  with  water;  little  work  has  been  done,  and  little  gold  has 
therefore  been  drawn  from  that  quarter;  but  all  the  time  the  patient  and  plod- 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


583 


Worn  out  at  last  with  their  trials  and  losses,  some  of 
their  more  intelligent  men  took  a lesson  from  the  course 
of  the  Europeans  and  Americans  in  China,  and  de- 
termined to  send  a remonstrance  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States.  This  document  was  put  in  my  hands  to 
translate  and  take  such  steps  as  were  necessary  to  have 
it  properly  brought  before  that  body.  It  wTould  no  doubt 
have  been  written  with  a brush  upon  a sheet  of  silk  and 
presented  with  due  form.  But  some  misapprehensions 
in  it  in  regard  to  the  powers  of  Congress,  and  certain 
temporary  reasons,  led  me  to  postpone  the  fulfillment  of 
their  wishes.  Upon  the  failure  of  my  health  I brought 
it  with  me  to  await  the  time,  if  life  were  spared,  ■when 
the  wakening  sense  of  the  importance  of  our  national 
relations  to  the  Chinese  should  justify  my  publishing  it. 

ding  Johns  are  delving  among  the  rocks  and  ravines  of  the  foot-hills — in  places 
where  a white  man  would  starve,  rather  than  work  in  at  all — packing  water  in 
buckets  to  rock  out  their  six  bits  a day  to  buy  their  daily  provender  and  pay 
the  tax-gatherer  for  the  poor  privilege  of  working.” 

Another  editor,  in  a county  neighboring  to  the  above,  makes  the  following 
statement  in  defence  of  the  Chinese : 

“Business  in  some  of  the  small  mining  camps  in  our  county  would  be  wholly 
suspended  during  the  summer  months  were  it  not  for  them.  They  are  content 
to  work  laboriously  for  two  dollars  a day,  and  work  claims  which  no  others 
would.  They  make  good  hands,  and  are  frequently  hired  by  the  miners.  "VYe 
have  heard  but  little  complaint  against  them  by  the  miners,  and  the  feeling 
which  at  first  existed  against  them,  and  which  was  greatly  exaggerated,  is  fast 
wearing  away.  They  are  a sober,  quiet,  industrious,  inoffensive  class  of  men, 
and,  in  our  opinion,  are  a great  benefit  to  our  county.  They  pay  annually  into 
our  treasury,  for  licenses  alone,  from  sixty  to  eighty  thousand  dollars — a sum 
we  cannot  afford  to  lose.  They  pay  our  merchants  promptly  for  every  article 
they  buy.  They  attend  to  their  own  business,  and  are  rarely  engaged  in  brawls. 
The  mines  they  work  would  be  unproductive  were  it  not  for  them,  being  too 
poor  to  pay  others  for  working  them.  Where  is  the  miner  in  our  county  who 
would  toil  from  early  ‘ morn  till  dewy  eve’  for  two  dollars  a day,  with  no  pros- 
pect of  obtaining  more  ? A Chinaman  will  do  it  cheerfully,  but  other  miners 
will  not.  For  the  last  year  but  few  of  them  have  worked  on  their  own  account, 
being  principally  hired  by  miners.” 


584 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


That  time  seems  to  have  arrived.  It  does  not  seem 
proper  now  to  send  it  to  Congress,  inasmuch  as  the  per- 
sons who  projected  and  prepared  it  are  some  of  them 
not  in  this  country ; the  author  of  the  paper,  I have 
been  informed,  is  dead,  a victim  to  the  use  of  opium ; 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written  are 
somewhat  changed. 

The  author  referred  to  was  Mr.  Pun  Chi,  a young 
merchant  in  San  Francisco,  a man  of  good  Chinese  edu- 
cation, and  who  had  picked  up  some  acquaintance  with 
our  people  and  their  institutions  in  his  trade  with  them 
and  during  his  attendance  at  the  mission-school  under 
my  care. 

This  remonstrance  is  thoroughly  Chinese,  and  will 
aid  our  people  to  understand  the  views  and  feelings  of 
that  people.  There  is  an  acute  perception  of  the  strong 
points  of  their  position,  and  of  the  arguments  which 
will  have  most  weight  with  the  best  class  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  that  is  characteristic  of  them.  They  appeal 
to  us  as  a reasonable  people.  The  Chinese  look  upon 
war  and  the  argument  of  the  sword  only  as  a last  neces- 
sity. This  paper  illustrates  their  national  character. 
Such  is  the  measure,  or,  if  the  expression  be  preferred, 
the  style,  of  their  civilization  that  they  regard  military 
men  with  much  the  same  dislike  that  they  do  pugilists 
or  butchers.  Hence  they  resort  to  diplomacy  in  their 
management  of  neighboring  nations,  and  their  statesmen 
are  often,  it  must  be  confessed,  adepts  at  bragging,  fib- 
bing and  tricks  equal  to  those  of  Europe  or  America. 

It  is  certainly  something  at  which  the  governments  of 
the  West  may  be  astonished,  and  from  which  they  might 
leam  a lesson  of  the  first  utility,  that  China  governs 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


585 


vast  territories,  which  more  than  equal  in  extent  her 
own  surface,  chiefly  by  moral  suasion.  Every  kingdom 
on  her  borders  pays  her  tribute,  receives  the  writings 
of  Confucius  as  the  best  compendium  of  what  is  reason- 
able and  right,  makes  her  language  that  of  its  polite 
classes  of  society  and  the  medium  of  communication 
with  strangers,  and  imitates  her  arts  and  her  usages. 

It  will  be  noticed  how,  therefore,  with  something  like 
amazement,  the  Chinese  who  have  emigrated  to  America 
find  themselves  regarded  with  dislike,  their  language 
unknown  to  us,  their  philosophers  despised,  and  insult 
and  wrong  heaped  upon  them  like  the  vagabond  tribes 
of  Indians.  And  it  is  nothing  but  gold,  the  immense 
difference  of  remuneration  for  every  sort  of  labor,  and 
gain  on  all  kinds  of  traffic,  or  the  want  of  gold,  in  fail- 
ing to  realize  what  they  have  expected,  and  their  conse- 
quent debts,  which  makes  them  endure  the  humiliation 
for  one  day.  They  writhe  under  it,  and  cannot  compre- 
hend it.  If  the  reader  can  put  himself  in  their  position 
and  in  their  frame  of  mind,  he  will  be  able  to  appreciate 
the  document  now  offered  for  his  perusal. 

It  will  be  a source  of  surprise  to  many  of  our  people, 
but  nevertheless  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  national 
mind,  that  they  should  dwell  so  emphatically  upon  the 
moral  and  religious  considerations  of  the  case.  There  is 
a quiet  dignity,  a deep  sense  of  wrong,  a freedom  from  a 
threatening  or  revengeful  spirit,  and  a declaration  of 
their  entire  submission  to  the  action  of  our  authorities 
in  their  case  when  deliberate  and  final,  which  must  win 
for  them  the  sincere  respect,  sympathy,  and  even  admi- 
ration, of  reflecting  and  honorable  men. 

There  are,  as  they  say,  twelve  topics  which  they  de- 


586 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


sire  the  legislators  of  our  nation  to  weigh  in  connection 
with  the  appeal  made  to  them  for  their  interference  to 
rectify  the  abuses  of  provincial  legislation,  and  for 
their  decision  of  the  questions  connected  with  the  per- 
manent residence  of  the  Chinese  here.  The  first  three 
are  preliminary  and  general.  (§  1).  They  begin  with 
an  appeal  to  our  religion.  They  say  that  there  is  a su- 
preme and  universal  government  which  has  constituted 
China  the  most  ancient,  great,  favored  and  beneficent 
nation  of  the  world.  We  have  been  granted  the  in- 
structions of  Jesus,  the  Western  counterpart  of  Con- 
fucius. Then  why  do  we  not  practice  them?  (§  2). 
They  then  define  the  principles  upon  which  good  gov- 
ernment should  be  founded — upon  reference  to  moral, 
not  mechanical  power,  upon  education,  and  upon  respect 
for  virtue.  (§  3).  They  represent  (with  some  truth, 
but  too  favorably)  that  the  conduct  of  their  own  govern- 
ment should  be  an  example  to  ours  in  its  care  of  the 
lives  and  property  of  foreigners,  and  the  justice  rendered 
to  them  in  its  courts ; and  it  is  claimed  that  no  other 
foreign  immigrants  more  deserve  to  be  justly  dealt  with 
in  this  country,  since  no  others  pay  so  large  an  amount 
of  the  public  revenue,  or  are  more  submissive  to  our 
laws ; and  this  will  be  more  clearly  seen  the  better  we 
understand  them.  There  are  seven  matters  in  respect 
to  which  they  desire  legislative  interference;  that  is, 
(§  4)  the  general  annoyances  inflicted  upon  the  Chinese, 
beginning  with  the  time  they  land,  and  from  all  kinds 
of  people ; (§  5)  the  outrageous  cruelties  and  crimes  of 
which,  from  the  want  of  legal  protection,  they  are  the 
subjects  ; (§  6)  the  oppression  and  wrongs  of  the  miners ; 
(§7)  the  violations  of  law  by  the  appointed  collectors 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


587 


of  taxes;  (§  8)  the  unjust  practices  of  the  nominal 
courts  of  justice;  (§  9)  the  troubles  arising  from  the  im- 
portation of  abandoned  women ; and  (§  10)  the  neglect 
to  inflict  the  j^enalties  of  the  laws  against  gambling. 
Finally,  they  make  two  special  requests;  first  (§  11), 
that  their  companies  may  be  allowed,  from  their  uni- 
versal acquaintance  with  all  the  Chinese  of  the  country, 
and  their  responsible  representative  character,  to  take 
cognizance  of  minor  offences  against  the  law  com- 
mitted by  their  own  people  and  report  them  to  our 
courts ; and  second  (§  12),  that  Congress  would,  as  the 
highest  legislative  authority,  decide  the  main  and  most 
anxious  questions  affecting  Chinese  interests  in  this 
country ; that  is,  if  the  previous  policy  of  encouraging 
trade  and  immigration  is  to  be  reversed,  and  if  they  are 
to  be  for  ever  liable  to  injustice  and  injury,  they  respect- 
fully beg  that  it  may  be  plainly  stated  by  a declaration 
to  that  effect,  and  that  effectual  measures  may  be  adopted 
to  prevent  our  traders  from  enticing  further  immigra- 
tion and,  by  fixing  a limit  as  to  time  (three  years),  to 
enable  and  compel  the  present  entire  Chinese  population 
to  take  its  departure.  They  demand  that  in  justice 
Congress  shall  settle  these  questions,  and  make  laws 
which  shall  either  banish  them  from  the  country  or  else 
give  them  security  and  peace. 

Such  is  the  tenor  of  this  remonstrance  to  the  authori- 
ties at  Washington.  It  will  be  seen  that  it  exhibits  a 
fair  conception  of  the  powers  of  a supreme  legislative 
assembly,  and  yet  is  defective  of  necessity  in  not  dis- 
cerning the  lines  which  divide  the  authority  of  the  Fed- 
eral and  State  legislative  bodies.  Some  of  its  expressions 
are  peculiar.  But,  on  the  whole,  the  doubt  may  be  ex- 


588 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


pressed  whether  a body  of  immigrants  from  any  European 
nation,  in  some  remote  part  of  our  country,  who  had  been 
here  but  for  a short  time  and  were  still  ignorant  of  our 
language  and  constitution,  would  have  prepared  a plea 
more  intelligent,  more  forcible  and  more  reasonable. 

A REMONSTRANCE 

FROM  TOE  CHINESE  IN  CALIFORNIA  TO  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES.1 

The  sincere  and  gracious  attention  of  your  honorable 
body  is  earnestly  requested  to  the  consideration  of  cer- 
tain matters  important  to  our  peace  as  foreigners,  the 
following  statements  of  which  may  be  relied  upon  as 
certainly  true  and  correct : 

We  are  natives  of  the  empire  of  China,  each  following 
some  employment  or  profession — literary  men,  farmers, 
mechanics  or  merchants.  When  your  honorable  gov- 
ernment threw  open  the  territory  of  California,  the 
people  of  other  lands  were  welcomed  here  to  search  for 
gold  and  to  engage  in  trade.  The  ship-masters  of  your 
respected  nation  came  over  to  our  country,  lauded  the 
equality  of  your  laws,  extolled  the  beauty  of  your  man- 
ners and  customs,  and  made  it  known  that  your  officers 
and  people  were  extremely  cordial  toward  the  Chinese. 

1 Such  is  the  ability  displayed  in  this  appeal  that  I judged  it  best  to  prevent 
suspicion  of  its  being  either  factitious  or  overwrought  by  submitting  it  with 
the  translation  to  one  of  the  most  thorough  and  competent  scholars  in  Chinese 
literature,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nevius,  author  of  the  interesting  volume  entitled 
“ China  and  the  Chinese,”  recently  published  by  Harper  & Brothers,  New  York. 
He  sent  me,  before  leaving  this  country  on  his  return  to  his  labors  in  the  North 
of  China,  the  following  note,  with  permission  to  publish  it : 

“I  have  examined  carefully  this  appeal  of  the  Chinese  to  Americans  made 
through  Dr.  Speer,  and  find  that  this  translation  is  a true  and  faithful  rendering 
of  the  original. 

“New  York,  October  31,  1S68.” 


John  L.  Nevius. 


. 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


589 


Knowing  well  the  liarmony  which  had  existed  between 
our  respective  governments,  we  trusted  in  your  sincerity. 
Not  deterred  by  the  long  voyage,  we  came  here  presum- 
ing that  our  arrival  would  be  hailed  with  cordiality  and 
favor.  But,  alas  ! what  times  are  these  ! — when  former 
kind  relations  are  forgotten,  when  we  Chinese  are  viewed 
like  thieves  and  enemies,  when  in  the  administration  of 
justice  our  testimony  is  not  received,  when  in  the  legal 
collection  of  the  licenses  we  are  injured  and  plundered, 
and  villains  of  other  nations  are  encouraged  to  rob  and 
do  violence  to  us ! Our  numberless  wrongs  it  is  most 
painful  even  to  recite.  At  the  present  time,  if  we  desire 
to  quit  the  country,  we  are  not  possessed  of  the  pecuniary 
means ; if  allowed  to  remain,  we  dread  future  troubles.  , 
But  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  our  presumption  that 
the  conduct  of  the  officers  of  justice  here  has  been  influ- 
enced by  temporary  prejudices  and  that  your  honorable 
government  will  surely  not  uphold  their  acts.  We  are 
sustained  by  the  confidence  that  the  benevolence  of  your 
eminent  body,  contemplating  the  people  of  the  whole 
world  as  one  family,  will  most  assuredly  not  permit  the 
Chinese  population  without  guilt  to  endure  injuries  to 
so  cruel  a degree.  We  would  therefore  present  the  fol- 
lowing twelve  subjects  for  consideration  at  your  bar. 
W e earnestly  pray  that  you  would  investigate  and  weigh 
them ; that  you  would  issue  instructions  to  your  author- 
ities in  each  State  that  they  shall  cast  away  their  partial 
and  unjust  practices,  restore  tranquillity  to  us  strangers, 
and  that  you  would  determine  whether  we  are  to  leave 
the  country  or  to  remain.  Then  we  will  endure  ensuing 
calamities  without  repining,  and  will  cherish  for  you  sin- 
cere gratitude  and  most  profound  respect. 


590 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Tlie  twelve  subjects,  we  would  state  with  great  respect, 
are  as  follows : 

§ 1.  The  unrighteousness  of  humiliating  and  hating  the 
Chinese  as  a people. 

"We  have  heard  that  your  honorable  nation  reverences 
Heaven.  -But  if  they  comprehend  the  reverence  that  is 
due  to  the  heavenly  powers,  of  necessity  they  cannot  hu- 
miliate and  hate  the  Chinese.  Why  do  we  aver  this? 
At  the  very  beginning  of  time,  Heaven  produced  a most 
holy  man,  whose  name  was  Pwan-ku.  He  was  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  people  of  China.  All  succeeding  races 
have  branched  off  from  them.  The  central  part  of  the 
earth  is  styled  by  its  inhabitants  the  Middle  Flowery 
Kingdom.  That  is  the  country  of  the  Chinese.  The 
regions  occupied  by  later  races  are  distributed  round  and 
subordinate  to  it.  Heaven  causes  it  to  produce  in  the 
greatest  variety  and  abundance,  so  that  of  all  under  the 
sky  this  country  is  the  greatest,  and  has  bestowed  upon 
it  perfect  harmony  with  the  powers  of  nature,  so  that  all 
things  there  attain  the  highest  perfection.  Hence  we 
see  that  Heaven  most  loves  our  Chinese  people,  and  mul- 
tiplies its  gifts  to  them  beyond  any  other  race. 

From  the  time  of  Pwan-ku  till  the  present,  a period 
of  many  tens  of  thousand  of  years,  there  have  been  born 
among  us  a host  of  sages,  such  as  Fu-hi,  Shin-nung, 
Hwang-ti,  Yau,  Shun,  Yu,  Pang,  Wan,  Wu  and  Chau- 
kung.  Gifted  by  Heaven,  they  attained  consummate  ex- 
cellence. Their  beneficent  influence  extended  not  alone 
around  them,  it  shed  peace  upon  all  nations.  In  the 
days  of  Yau  our  people  were  styled  the  Tang,  which 
has  been  a favorite  designation  of  themselves  until  now. 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


591 


After  some  centuries,  Heaven  again  produced  a sage  pre- 
eminent and  alone  in  liis  excellence,  whose  name  was 
Confucius,  whom  it  made  the  great  teacher  of  China. 
He  combined  what  was  greatest  and  best  in  all  that  pre- 
ceded him,  and  became  the  teacher  and  exemplar  of  all 
ages.  As  to  things  on  high,  he  showed  men  the  fear  of 
Heaven ; as  to  things  on  earth,  he  taught  them  virtue. 
The  sages  of  whom  we  have  spoken  had  the  wisdom 
to  discern  that  all  men  on  earth  are  one  family.  Now 
what  is  meant  in  styling  all  men  on  earth  one  family  ? 
It  is,  that  the  people  of  China,  or  of  countries  foreign  to 
it,  are  all  embraced,  as  it  were,  in  one  great  circle  of 
kindred,  with  its  parents  and  children,  its  elder  and 
younger  branches,  its  bonds  of  unity ; the  pervading 
principle,  love ; no  one  member  debased,  none  treated 
with  dislike.  Again,  after  several  centuries,  Heaven 
brought  forth  one  Jesus,  and  ordained  him  to  be  a 
teacher  to  foreign  lands.  Now  Jesus  also  taught  man- 
kind the  fear  of  Heaven.  He  showed  that  the  chief  end 
is  to  pray  for  eternal  life.  He  comprehended  the  rever- 
ence due  to  Heaven,  and  the  obligations  of  virtue.  He 
was  in  accord  with  the  holy  men  of  China.  He  looked 
on  all  beneath  the  sky  as  one  great  family.  He  did  not 
permit  distinctions  of  men  into  classes  to  be  loved  or  de- 
spised.. But  now,  if  the  religion  of  Jesus  really  teaches 
the  fear  of  Heaven,  how  does  it  come  that  the  people  of 
your  honorable  country  on  the  contrary  trample  upon 
and  hate  the  race  which  Heaven  most  loves,  that  is,  the 
Chinese?  Should  this  not  be  called  rebellion  against 
Heaven?  And  how  is  it  possible  to  receive  this  as  of  the 
religion  of  Heaven  ? 


592 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


§ 2.  An  appeal  to  the  principle  which  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  Chinese  government  and  society. 

The  wise  men  of  China  plant  at  the  very  foundation 
of  government  the  idea  of  virtue,  not  that  of  physical 
power,  just  as  do  those  professing  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Virtue  is  that  which  commands  the  intuitive 
submission  of  the  human  will.  Great  vessels  of  war 
and  powerful  artillery  may  destroy  cities  and  devastate 
a country.  That  is  physical  power.  But  moral  power 
is  essentially  different  from  mechanical  power.  The 
noblest  illustration  of  moral  power  is  the  teacher  at  the 
head  of  his  school — as  much  so  as  the  locomotive  and 
the  telegraph  are  of  mechanical  skill.  It  is  the  spirit 
of  man  that  deserves  respect,  not  his  form.  If  the 
spirit  be  noble  and  good,  although  the  man  be  poor  and 
humble,  his  features  homely  and  his  apparel  mean,  we 
honor  him  and  love  him.  If  the  spirit  be  not  so,  though 
the  man  have  wealth  and  position,  though  his  counte- 
nance be  beautiful  and  his  clothing  rich,  we  regard  him 
with  contempt  and  dislike.  But  we  do  affirm  that  the 
reason  why  the  people  of  your  honorable  country  dislike 
the  Chinese  is  this,  and  no  other — they  look  at  the  plain 
appearance  and  the  patched  clothes  of  their  poor,  and 
they  do  not  think  how  many  spirits  there  are  among 
them  whom  they  could  respect  and  love. 

§ 3.  A brief  statement  of  the  manner  in  which  our  Chinese 
government  acts  toward  foreigners. 

China  possesses  a mutual  trade  with  all  foreign  lands. 
When  a man  from  another  country  arrives  in  China, 
none  of  our  officers  and  common  people  treat  him  other- 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


593 


wise  than  with  respect  and  kindness.  In  case  he  he 
defrauded  or  injured,  where  it  is  a small  matter  the 
offender  is  fined  or  punished  corporeally;  in  a graver 
one  he  forfeits  his  life.  Even  though  there  be  no  wit- 
nesses, still  the  local  officers  must  thoroughly  inquire 
into  the  circumstances.  In  murders  and  brawls,  if  the 
criminal  be  not  discovered  the  magistrate  is  called  to 
account  and  degraded  from  his  office.  When  a for- 
eigner commits  a deed  of  violence  against  a Chinese,  a 
spirit  of  great  leniency  and  care  is  manifested  in  the 
judgment  of  the  case.  Not  because  there  is  not  power 
to  punish.  But  we  sincerely  dread  to  mar  the  beautiful 
idea  of  gentleness  and  benignity  toward  the  stranger 
from  afar. 

Now  why  is  it  that,  when  our  people  come  to  your 
country,  instead  of  being  welcomed  with  unusual  respect 
and  kindness,  on  the  contrary  they  are  treated  with  un- 
usual contempt  and  evil  ? Hence  many  lose  their  lives 
at  the  hands  of  lawless  wretches.  Yet  though  there  be 
Chinese  witnesses  of  the  crime,  their  testimony  is  rejected. 
The  result  is  our  utter  abandonment  to  be  murdered  and 
that  of  our  business  to  be  ruined.  How  hard  for  the 
spirit  to  sustain  such  trials ! It  is  true  some  persons 
reply  that  the  Chinese  who  come  here  are  of  no  advan- 
tage to  the  country.  Yet  if  a calculation  be  made  only 
of  the  amount  of  licenses  we  pay,  the  value  of  our  trade, 
the  revenue  to  steamers,  stage  companies  and  other  in- 
terests, amounting  to  several  millions  of  dollars  per 
annum,  can  it  be  affirmed  that  we  are  of  no  advantage  ? 
But,  besides,  it  is  to  be  considered  that  we  Chinese  are 
universally  a law-abiding  people  and  that  our  conduct  is 
very  different  from  the  lawlessness  and  violence  of  some 

38  ♦ 


594 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


other  foreigners.  Were  it  not  that  each  so  little  under- 
stands the  other’s  tongue,  and  mutual  kind  sentiments 
are  not  communicated,  would  not  more  cordial  inter- 
course probably  exist? 

§ 4.  The  perpetual  vexations  of  the  Chinese. 

The  class  that  engage  in  digging  gold  are,  as  a whole, 
poor  people.  We  go  on  board  the  ships.  There  we  find 
ourselves  unaccustomed  to  winds  and  waves  and  to  the 
extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  We  eat  little ; we  grieve 
much.  Our  appearance  is  plain  and  our  clothing  poor. 
At  once,  when  we  leave  the  vessel,  boatmen  extort  heavy 
fares;  all  kinds  of  conveyances  require  from  us  more 
than  the  usual  charges;  as  we  go  on  our  way  we  are 
pushed  and  kicked  and  struck  by  the  drunken  and  the 
brutal ; but  as  we  cannot  speak  your  language,  we  bear 
our  injuries  and  pass  on.  Even  when  withindoors, 
rude  boys  throw  sand  and  bad  men  stones  after  us. 
Passers  by,  instead  of  preventing  these  provocations,  add 
to  them  by  their  laughter.  We  go  up  to  the  mines; 
there  the  collectors  of  the  licenses  make  unlawful  ex- 
actions and  robbers  strip,  plunder,  wound  and  even  mur- 
der some  of  us.  Thus  we  are  plunged  into  endless 
uncommiserated  wrongs.  But  the  first  root  of  them  all 
is  that  very  degradation  and  contempt  of  the  Chinese  as 
a race  of  which  we  have  spoken,  which  begins  with  your 
honorable  nation,  but  which  they  communicate  to  people 
from  other  countries,  who  carry  it  to  greater  lengths. 

Now  what  injury  have  we  Chinese  done  to  your  hon- 
orable people  that  they  should  thus  turn  upon  us  and 
make  us  drink  the  cup  of  wrong  even  to  its  last  poison- 
ous dregs? 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


595 


§ 5.  Fatal  injuries  unpunished . 

Your  Supreme  Court  has  decided  that  the  Chinese 
shall  not  bring  action  or  give  testimony  against  white 
men.  Of  how  great  wrongs  is  this  the  consummation ! 
To  the  death  of  how  many  of  us  has  it  led ! In  cases 
that  are  brought  before  your  officers  of  justice,  inasmuch 
as  we  are  unable  to  obtain  your  people  as  witnesses,  even 
the  murderer  is  immediately  set  free ! Sanctioned  by 
this,  robbers  of  foreign  nations  commit  the  greatest  ex- 
cesses. It  is  a small  thing  with  them  to  drive  us  away 
and  seize  our  property.  They  proceed  to  do  violence 
and  kill  us ; they  go  on  in  a career  of  bloodshed  without 
limit,  since  they  find  there  are  none  to  bear  testimony 
against  them.  Let  us  mention  some  cases.  In  the  third 
year  of  the  present  emperor,  and  seventh  month,  at 

B , Yu  Lin-shing,  a Chinese,  was  shot  and  killed 

by  an  American.  The  murderer  was  apprehended  and 
brought  to  the  place  of  justice.  He  was  released  without 

condemnation.  In  the  ninth  month,  at  S , Yu  Wai- 

ngok  was  murdered  by  a foreigner.  In  the  same  month, 

at  B , one  of  our  countrymen  was  killed  by  an 

Indian.  In  the  fourth  year,  second  month,  near  M , 

a man  named  Chiu  Man-sze  was  shot  with  arrows,  by 

Indians,  and  killed.  In  the  sixth  month,  in  L , 

Liu  Kiu  was  put  to  death  by  an  American ; the  mur- 
derer was  captured  and  put  in  prison  ; but,  as  usual,  was 
released  without  trial.  In  the  eleventh  month,  a Span- 
iard robbed  and  murdered  one  of  our  countrymen.  In 
the  fifth  year,  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  fifth  month,  a 
collector  of  the  mining  licenses  killed  Ching  Ping,  at 
P . About  the  middle  of  the  same  month,  at 


596 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


M , tlie  collectors  of  the  licenses  killed  three  men 

because  they  would  not  pay  more  than  was  justly  due; 
their  names  were  Wa  Hon,  A-Tang  and  A-Sui. 

It  would  he  impossible  to  enumerate  the  men  that 
have  been  killed ; we  have  mentioned  these  as  a few  of 
them.  To  collect  a catalogue  of  crimes  is  certainly  not 
a work  of  pleasure.  But  behold  the  root  of  them  all 
in  the  prejudice  and  hate  of  your  honorable  nation ! In 
cases  where  it  is  possible  to  procure  the  testimony  of 
your  people  as  to  an  injury,  the  Chinese  may  obtain  re- 
paration ; but  suppose  there  are  occasions  where,  if  none 
of  your  people  know  of  a crime,  Chinese  were  allowed 
to  take  up  the  case  and  to  state  their  acquaintance  with 
it,  some  of  these  stains  of  blood  would  not  continue  un- 
washed. Some  object  that  the  Chinese  bear  false  wit- 
ness. Do  such  not  know  that  the  Chinese  do  not  under- 
stand your  language? — or  that  within  your  courts  of 
justice,  too,  there  are  corrupt  men  ? — or  that  in  the  strifes 
of  public  litigation  there  may  be  found  men  of  every 
country  who  will  bear  false  testimony  ? Why,  then,  is 
this  burden  laid  upon  us  Chinese  alone  ? Suppose  there 
be  false  witness  borne,  are  the  judges  of  your  honor- 
able country  blind  and  stupid,  so  that  they  cannot  dis- 
cern it  and  estimate  testimony  at  its  value?  Because 
here  and  there  a Chinese  or  two  has  proved  a perjurer, 
shall  it  prejudice  our  entire  nation?  Shall  this  degrade 
us  beneath  the  negro  and  the  Indian  ? This  is  a great 
injustice,  such  as  is  not  heard  of  in  our  Middle  Kingdom! 
It  injures  your  fair  name.  Every  nation  under  heaven 
mocks  at  you.  Hence  it  is  not  alone  we  Chinese  that 
suffer,  but  blessings  are  lost  thereby  to  your  own  land. 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


597 


§ 6.  The  persecution  of  the  Chinese  miners. 

If  a Chinese  earns  a dollar  and  a half  in  gold  per 
day,  his  first  desire  is  to  go  to  an  American  and  buy  a 
mining  claim.  But  should  this  yield  a considerable  re- 
sult, the  seller,  it  is  possible,  compels  him  to  relinquish  it. 
Perhaps  robbers  come  and  strip  him  of  the  gold.  He 
dare  not  resist,  since  he  cannot  speak  the  language,  and 
has  not  the  power  to  withstand  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  have  no  means  to  buy  a claim  seek 
some  ground  which  other  miners  have  dug  over  and 
left,  and  thus  obtain  a few  dimes.  From  the  proceeds 
of  a hard  day’s  toil,  after  the  pay  for  food  and  clothes 
very  little  remains.  It  is  hard  for  them  to  be  prepared 
to  meet  the  collector  when  he  comes  for  the  license- 

0 

money.  If  such  a one  turns  his  thoughts  back  to  the 
time  when  he  came  here,  perhaps  he  remembers  that 
then  he  borrowed  the  money  for  his  passage  and  ex- 
penses from  his  kindred  and  friends,  or  perhaps  he  sold 
all  his  property  to  obtain  it;  and  how  bitter  those 
thoughts  are ! In  the  course  of  four  years,  out  of  each 
ten  men  that  have  come  over  scarcely  more  than  one  or 
two  get  back  again.  Among  those  who  cannot  do  so, 
the  purse  is  often  empty ; and  the  trials  of  many  of 
them  are  worthy  of  deep  compassion.  Thus  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  gold  mines  are  truly  of  little  advantage  to 
the  Chinese.  Yet  the  legislature  questions  whether  it 
shall  not  increase  the  license ; that  is,  increase  trouble 
upon  trouble ! It  is  pressing  us  to  death.  If  it  is  your 
will  that  Chinese  shall  not  dig  the  gold  of  your  honor- 
able country,  then  fix  a limit  as  to  time,  say,  for  instance, 
three  years,  within  which  every  man  of  them  shall  pro- 


598 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


vide  means  to  return  to  liis  own  country.  Thus  we 
shall  not  perish  in  a foreign  land.  Thus  mutual  kindly 
sentiments  shall  be  restored  again. 

§ 7.  The  irregularities  of  the  collectors  of  the  license. 

These  occur  wherever  the  Chinese  are  engaged  in 
mining ; and  they  are  not  the  acts  of  one  man.  The 
collectors  of  the  license  have  no  appointed  districts : 
one  man  comes  at  this  time,  and  a stranger  the  next. 
They  have  no  appointed  period : some  come  for  the 
month’s  dues  to-day,  and  to-morrow  they  require  them 
again.  In  collecting  from  the  miners  who  have  money 
they  extort  heavy  amounts  besides.  To  miners  who  have 
none  they  refuse  to  grant  time,  and  then  demand  the 
sums  which  they  owe  from  other  persons.  If  these  refuse 
to  pay  them,  the  collectors  seize  their  purses  and  take 
their  last  grain  of  gold.  Should  the  Chinese  dispute  with 
them,  they  assault  them  with  pistols  and  other  weapons, 
and  some  of  the  miners  may  lose  their  lives,  and  there 
is  no  redress.  Hence,  when  it  is  reported  that  the  col- 
lectors are  coming,  those  who  have  no  gold  are  forced  to 
fly  in  terror ; those  who  could  pay  are  thus  frightened 
and  follow ; then  they  are  pursued  and  beaten,  perhaps 
killed.  Occurrences  like  these  are  common.  They  all 
arise  from  the  rapacity  of  the  collectors  and  from  the 
want  of  just  regulations.  Now  we  ask,  first,  that,  in  the 
collection  of  the  licenses,  each  district  shall  be  allotted 
to  a certain  man  ; that  the  boundaries  of  it  shall  be 
clearly  defined ; that  other  collectors  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  come  within  them ; that  the  day  of  each  month  when 
the  collector  will  receive  the  license-money  shall  be 
previously  published  by  placards ; that  on  the  payment 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


599 


of  the  four  dollars  he  shall  give  the  miner  a written  re- 
ceipt as  evidence,  to  prevent  his  being  compelled  to  pay 
the  money  again  ; and  that  in  the  cases  of  those  who  are 
unable  to  pay,  firstly,  some  extension  of  time  may  be 
granted ; if  at  the  second  demand  they  still  have  no 
means  to  pay,  security  may  be  required  from  their  fellow- 
miners,  with  some  further  extension  of  time ; at  the 
third  demand,  if  neither  they  nor  their  security  are 
ready  to  pay,  then  their  property  may  be  seized  for  the 
amount.  There  are  none  of  us  who  would  not  gladly 
submit  to  such  regulations  as  these.  They  would  he 
just  to  both  parties.  And  your  losses  from  the  miners 
running  away  or  hiding  their  money  would  cease. 

§ 8.  Usages  to  which  we  object. 

Our  people  have  been  told  of  the  excellence  of  the 
institutions  of  your  honorable  country ; but  when  they 
have  come  to  the  new  State  of  California,  they  have 
found  them  to  be  strange  indeed.  We  know  not  from 
what  nation  came  the  men  that  have  taken  the  lead  in 
creating  this  condition  of  things,  nor  where  rests  the  ob- 
ligation of  reforming  it,  but  you  cannot  be  ignorant  of 
some  things  the  truth  of  'which  we  have  seen  and  known. 
Allow  us  briefly  to  speak  of  them.  Causes  at  law  are  not 
judged  according  to  what  is  true  or  false;  the  strongest 
faction  is  counted  to  have  the  truth.  In  contentions  be- 
tween men  it  is  not  considered  what  is  crooked  and  what 
is  straight ; sufficient  money  makes  a man’s  claim  appear 
straight.  The  treatment  of  men  is  not  regulated  by  their 
characters  for  virtue  or  for  vice;  a fine  exterior  is  ac- 
cepted for  virtue.  New  laws  are  constantly  published, 
only  to  be  changed  again  in  a brief  time.  Suits  that 


600 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


should  be  determined  are  postponed  again  and  again. 
A person  of  purity  and  integrity  appears  in  court  and 
he  is  but  ridiculed  and  insulted  the  more ; a violent  and 
wicked  man,  and  he  is  paid  the  more  respect.  Cases 
involving  money  come  before  these  tribunals,  and  they 
excite  covetousness ; cases  of  property,  and  they  create 
envy>  of  a man’s  abundance.  Murder  is  allowed  to 
escape  without  the  forfeit  of  life ; robbery  occurs  without 
the  apprehension  of  the  offender.  False  rumors  are 
made  a pretext  to  arrest  men ; officers  apprehend  the 
innocent  in  order  to  oppress  and  fine  them.  They  prac- 
tice neither  humanity  nor  justice.  Their  ambition  and 
their  schemes  terminate  simply  in  gold  and  silver.  Jus- 
tice demands  that  political  institutions  such  as  these 
should  speedily  be  reformed,  or  you  will  meet  with  the 
scorn  of  the  whole  world. 

§ 9.  A request  for  the  adjustment  of  the  difficulties  in 
regard  to  abandoned  women. 

At  first  all  the  abandoned  women  who  came  to  Cali- 
fornia from  Hong-kong  were  boat-women  from  the  sea- 
coast  : one  of  them  arrived  here  during  the  first  year  of 
Hien-fung  (1851).  At  that  time,  we  Chinese  proper, 
fearing  that  other  people  would  mistake  these  for  our 
own  females,  and  thus  disgraceful  conceptions  of  us  be 
spread  abroad,  specially  requested  your  authorities  to 
banish  them.  But  the  local  authorities,  not  compre- 
hending the  evil,  would  not  consent  to  their  removal. 
From  that  time  the  number  of  those  coming  has  con- 
stantly increased,  and  the  flood  of  poison  has  become 
more  and  more  wide  and  deep.  It  is  now  our  request 
that  you  will  enact  laws  for  the  correction  of  this  griev- 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


601 


ance.  We  beseech  you  to  stringently  require  com- 
manders of  vessels,  while  they  carry  these  women  away, 
to  bring  no  more  of  them  back.  And  a time  should  be 
fixed  within  which  all  here  shall  be  compelled  to  leave, 
themselves  providing  the  means,  and  returning  to  their 
own  people.  Thus  will  we  be  rid  of  this  spreading 
poison  and  be  relieved  of  this  disgrace. 

§ 10.  A petition  that  gambling  may  he  severely  punished. 

In  our  Middle  Kingdom  gambling  is  forbidden  by 
law.  Formerly,  on  account  of  its  not  being  forbidden 
in  your  honorable  country,  many  men  learned  this  vice, 
and  the  results  have  been  deeply  injurious.  Now  we 
are  fortunate  in  having  a law  against  it  passed  by  you 
and  put  into  operation.  If  only  men  knew  that  they 
must  rigidly  obey  it,  and  if  from  this  time  forth  there 
shall  be  no  secret  granting  of  licenses,  then  we  might 
hope  that  those  who  had  learned  this  vice  might  return 
to  honest  occupations. 

§11.  A request  in  regard  to  the  management  of  criminal 

cases. 

At  present,  people  from  all  nations  are  coming  indis- 
criminately to  your  honorable  country.  Certainly  many 
of  them  are  good ; but  there  are  also  bad  persons  among 
them.  It  constantly  happens  that  the  good  are  com- 
pelled to  reap  some  of  the  fruits  of  the  evil  deeds  of  the 
vicious.  Among  our  Chinese  there  are  some  bad  peo- 
ple ; and  only  the  Chinese  can  know  who  they  are.  If 
you  will  permit  the  Chinese  merchants,  they  will  pre- 
pare private  statements  as  to  such  persons,  vouching  for 
them  by  the  signature  of  their  names.  Thus  rogues 


602 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


may  be  justly  punished,  and  will  understand  that  the 
laws  are  to  be  respected,  and  will  be  deterred  from  the 
commission  of  crimes ; and  they  will  return  to  the  ways 
of  virtue. 

§ 12.  A request  for  an.  enactment  appointing  a time  when 
the  Chinese  shall  finally  return  to  their  own  land. 

"When  we  were  first  favored  with  the  invitations  of 
your  ship-captains  to  emigrate  to  California,  and  heard 
the  laudations  which  they  published  of  the  perfect  and 
admirable  character  of  your  institutions,  and  were  told 
of  your  exceeding  respect  and  love  toward  the  Chinese, 
we  could  hardly  have  calculated  that  we  would  now  be 
the  objects  of  your  excessive  hatred — that  your  courts 
would  refuse  us  the  right  of  testimony ; your  legislature 
load  us  with  increasing  taxes  and  devise  means  how  to 
wholly  expel  us ; your  collectors,  even  before  the  law  is 
made,  begin  to  demand  larger  sums,  and  to  compel  the 
month’s  payment  for  shorter  periods  than  that  time;  that 
foreign  villains,  witnessing  your  degrading  treatment  of 
us,  would  assume  the  right  to  harass,  plunder  and  rob 
us,  possibly  kill  us ; that  injuries  of  every  kind  would 
be  inflicted  on  us,  and  unceasing  wrongs  be  perpetrated ; 
that  if  we  would  desire  to  go,  we  would  be  unable  to 
do  so,  and  if  we  desired  to  remain,  we  could  not.  But 
now  if,  finally,  you  do  not  will  that  we  should  mine  and 
traffic  in  your  honorable  country,  we  beg  that  you  will 
fix  by  law  a limit  of  three  years,  within  which  we  may 
collect  our  property  and  return  to  our  country ; and  that 
you  will  strictly  forbid  your  ship-captains  to  use  induce- 
ments for  people  to  come,  and,  if  they  do  not  obey,  se- 
verely punish  them.  Thus  we  will  endeavor  after  the 


A REMONSTRANCE  TO  CONGRESS. 


603 


lapse  of  three  years  to  leave  upon  your  honorable  soil 
not  a trace  of  the  Chinese  population.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  you  grant  us  as  formerly  to  mine  and  trade  here, 
then  it  is  our  request  that  you  will  give  instructions  to 
your  courts  that  they  shall  again  receive  Chinese  testi- 
mony ; that  they  shall  cease  their  incessant  discussions 
about  expelling  the  Chinese  ; that  they  shall  quit  their 
frequent  agitations  as  to  raising  the  license  fees ; that 
they  shall  allow  the  Chinese  peace  in  the  pursuit  of  their 
proper  employments ; and  that  they  shall  effectually  re- 
press the  acts  of  violence  common  among  the  mountains, 
so  that  robbers  shall  not  upon  one  pretext  or  another 
injure  and  plunder  us.  Thus  shall  your  distinguished 
favor  revive  us  like  a continual  dew. 

To  the  translation  of  this  Remonstrance  I will  only 
add  the  expression  of  the  sincere  hope  that  the  members 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  legisla- 
tures of  those  States  in  which  Chinese  are  now  laboring, 
or  may  do  so  in  the  future,  will  give  a thoughtful  con- 
sideration to  the  subjects  presented  in  it.  There  is  a 
propriety  about  it  which  should  ensure  their  respect. 
There  is  a reasonableness  and  justice  in  the  requests  and 
suggestions  which  should  cause  them  to  be  weighed  and 
adopted,  if  only  we  except  that  of  the  reference  of 
questions  relating  to  the  characters  of  persons  accused 
of  crimes  to  the  opinion  of  “the  Chinese  merchants,” 
meaning  probably  their  Association,  or  Exchange,  in 
San  Francisco.  Personal  prejudices,  jealousies  among 
the  people  of  different  clans  and  districts,  and  their  dis- 
pleasure with  some  who  leave  the  religion  and  customs 
of  their  fathers  and  adopt  those  of  our  country,  might 


604 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


make  suck  an  opinion  one  which  it  would  be  unsafe  for 
our  courts  to  follow.  It  would  be  better  to  accede  to 
their  final  petition  and  fix  a time  within  which  their 
immigration  to  this  country  should  cease,  those  here 
depart,  and  intercourse  be,  so  far  as  practicable,  sus- 
pended, than  that  we  should  go  on  in  a descending 
course  of  oppression,  rapacity  and  reckless  destruction 
of  property  and  life,  which  can  only  terminate  in  the 
greatest  national  calamities  to  us  and  to  them. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION. 

TIN"  preparing  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  volume, 
and  describing,  as  I have  heartily  done,  the  industry, 
the  gentleness,  the  intelligence,  the  charity  of  the  Chi- 
nese, a voice  has  often  whispered  in  my  ear,  as  from 
some  thoughtful  inquirer  of  my  own  nation,  Are  not 
these  a heathen  people  whom  you  are  so  praising? — have 
they  not  the  vices  of  heathenism  ? I cannot  close  this 
chapter  without  confessing  that  they  are  heathen,  and 
that  we  discover  in  them  the  vices  of  the  tribes  of  man- 
kind without  the  light  of  God’s  truth  to  teach  them,  and 
without  the  power  of  God’s  truth  to  give  elevation  and 
strength  to  their  moral  character.  They  seem  to  occupy 
a superior  position  compared  with  other  heathen  nations, 
and  yet,  alas  ! they  are  heathen. 

Then  the  question  rises,  What  are  “ heathen  ? ” The 
heathen  were  originally  heath-ers — the  dwellers  among 
the  heath ; those  who  wandered  away  from  the  fenced 
abodes  of  knowledge  and  happiness  and  plenty ; the 
ignorant,  desolate  outcasts,  who  are  so  numerous  in  the 
old  countries;  the  gypsies,  the  lepers,^ and  all  that  wild, 
despised,  wretched  herd.  Here  is  the  typical  idea.  We 
apply  it  to  all  the  races  of  man  who  are  without  the 
Bible ; to  those  who  are  wanderers  from  the  way  of  life, 

605 


606 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


and  are  in  the  wilderness  as  respects  their  knowledge  of 
the  living  and  true  God,  pardon  of  sin,  true  holiness 
and  heaven.  They  see  the  dim  light  of  nature  and  of 
their  traditions  from  the  patriarchal  age ; they  hear  the 
still  small  voice  of  natural  conscience ; but  they  are 
without  the  clear  light  of  the  revelation  which  we  enjoy. 

In  the  religious  writings  of  the  Chinese  one  discerns 
the  generic  attributes  of  heathenism — ignorance  and 
fear  with  regard  to  God,  pride  and  self-indulgence  as  to 
the  man.  The  ignorance  of  God  is  the  parent  of  super- 
stition, which  fills  heaven,  earth  and  hell  with  imaginary 
beings  and  monsters ; the  fear  excites  men  to  the  wor- 
ship of  them,  and  this  consists  chiefly  in  offerings  to 
propitiate  their  anger.  Pride  conceals  the  sinfulness  of 
human  nature  and  puffs  it  up  with  conceit  of  its  own 
powers ; self-indulgence  plunges  the  man  into  the  grati- 
fication of  his  low  appetites. 

There  are  some  most  touching  admissions  of  their 
ignorance  of  all  beyond  the  reach  of  their  own  senses  or 
the  monitions  of  human  reason  and  conscience  to  be 
found  in  the  pages  of  the  great  teachers  of  China.  Thus 
Confucius,  when  inquired  of  as  to  the  nature  of  the  gods, 
used  language  which  reminds  one  of  that  of  Socrates* 
when  the  weeping  disciples  to  whom  he  had  taught  so 
much  of  negative  truth  besought  him  for  something 
positive  to  dispel  the  fears  of  death  and  “ charm”  away 
their  sorrow.  It  is  said  he  exclaimed,  “ How  vast  is  the 
power  of  the  gods ! Look,  and  you  cannot  see  them. 
Listen,  and  you  cannot  hear  them.  They  have  a per- 
sonality essentially  related  to  us.  And  yet  how  they 
compel  the  whole  race  of  man  to  fast  and  to  array  them- 
selves in  their  best  robes,  that  they  may  sacrifice  to  them, 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  607 


is  unfathomable  as  the  sea.  They  seem  to  be  above. 
They  seem  to  be  on  our  right  hand  and  on  our  left.  As 
the  ode  says : 

‘The  influence  of  the  gods  upon  the  mind 

What  mind  can  measure  ? 

To  the  utmost  let  our  duty  be  performed.’ 

Behold,  the  secret  things  they  bring  to  light ! Be  sin- 
cere, for  you  can  conceal  nothing.  This  is  certain.” 1 
The  best  lesson  which  Mencius,  who  stands  next  to 
Confucius  in  the  regard  of  the  wise  and  good  of  China, 
had  to  teach  was  only  what  related  to  the  duty  which 
man  owes  to  his  fellow-man.  When  the  king  of  Wai 
invited  the  wisest  men  to  visit  his  court,  he  condescend- 
ingly said  to  Mencius,  “Venerable  sir,  since  a thousand 
miles  has  not  been  esteemed  too  great  a distance  for  you 
to  come,  will  you  now  inform  me  what  there  is  of  profit 
to  my  kingdom  that  you  can  bestow  ?”  The  philosopher 
replied,  “ 0 king ! why  speak  of  profit  ? I have  only 
benevolence  and  justice — nothing  more.”  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  inveigh  against  the  ambition  and  covetousness 
of  all  classes  of  society,  and  declare  that  there  were  two 
principles  which  would  bring  happiness  and  order  to 
«very  house  and  fidelity  to  every  subject  of  the  throne; 
and  he  cried,  “ O king ! only  talk  then  of  benevolence 
and  justice.  Wherefore  speak  of  profit?”  2 

Both  Confucius  and  Mencius  saw  with  bitterness  the 
utter  inefficacy  of  truth  which  looks  no  higher  than  earth 
to  reform  society  or  to  stay  the  power  of  human  passions. 
The  vices  of  the  courts  they  visited  too  often  quenched 
the  flickering  lamp  of  reason  in  their  hands. 

The  popular  faith  has  gradually  shaped  its  conceptions 

1 Chtog-Yung,  leaf  10.  2 Shang-mang,  leaf  2. 


608 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


of  things  in  the  heavens  in  accordance  with  what  is  seen 
on  earth.  It  is  supposed  that  there  is  a chief  of  the 
gods,  Shang-ti,  who  resembles  the  Jupiter  of  the  Ro- 
mans, and  whose  attributes  are  described  to  be  infinite 
power  and  knowledge,  so  that  some  foreign  missionaries 
have  advocated  the  use  of  the  name  to  signify  the  true 
God ; a mistake,  however,  as  great  as  that  of  using  the 
name  of  Jupiter  or  Zeus  with  that  sense.  It  is  the 
common  belief  that  there  is  a hierarchy  in  the  heavens 
nearly  corresponding  with  that  of  the  empire  on  earth, 
the  rank  and  power  of  the  gods  being  relatively  the 
same  with  those  of  the  successive  grades  of  civil  officers. 
So  practical  is  this  faith  that  the  officer  in  the  flesh 
ruling  over  a province  when  traveling,  if  he  finds  it  con- 
venient to  occupy  the  temple  of  a god  of  a celestial  dig- 
nity inferior  to  his  own,  may  not  scruple  to  order  the 
god  to  be  put  out  of  doors  for  the  time  being.  Nor,  in 
truth,  do  any  evil  results  usually,  in  their  experience, 
follow. 

The  theatrical  performances  which  the  Chinese  have 
introduced  into  California,  and  with  rather  poor  success 
attempted,  in  the  employment  of  certain  Americans,  who 
cruelly  deceived  and  defrauded  them,  to  exhibit  in  some 
of  the  Atlantic  cities,  are  partly  religious  in  their  nature. 
The  Chinese  have  a legend  in  regard  to  their  origin, 
which  is  as  follows : 

About  eleven  hundred  years  ago,  upon  the  night  of 
the  annual  festival  in  honor  of  the  moon,  Lo  Kung- 
un,  an  attendant  upon  the  emperor  Hieun-tsing,  was 
walking  abroad  and  turning  his  eyes  to  that  luminary. 
In  a rapture  of  devotion  he  flung  up  into  the  sky  the 
staff  which  he  bore  in  his  hand.  It  was  instantly  trans- 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  609 


formed  before  his  eyes  into  a bridge.  Haying  invited 
his  imperial  master  to  accompany  him,  he  mounted  upon 
it  to  the  moon.  They  found  there  the  gates  of  a splen- 
did palace.  Upon  entering  it,  the  two  beheld  beneath  a 
spreading  cinnamon  tree  a company  of  females  of  noble 
aspect,  clad  in  white  and  seated  upon  white  celestial 
birds,  which  sang  with  delicious  sweetness.  The  com- 
pany seemed  to  be  amusing  themselves,  and  their  visit- 
ors heard  at  the  same  time  strains  of  music  of  a wonder- 
fully pure  and  majestic  kind.  They  returned  back  to 
earth,  to  the  palace  of  Si-king,  but  could  recall,  alas ! 
scarce  half  the  words  or  notes  of  the  song  which  they 
had  heard.  But  Yang  King-tali,  having  formed  some 
conception  of  it,  wrote  it  down  and  arranged  it,  and  pre- 
sented it  to  the  emperor.  He  commanded  a band  of 
more  than  three  hundred  singing  girls  to  be  formed,  to 
which  was  committed  the  rehearsal  of  the  music.  These 
women  having  performed  in  the  inclosure  of  the  imperial 
pear  orchard,  play-actors  have  since  then  borne  the  des- 
ignation of  “ the  fraternity  of  the  pear  orchard.” 

The  celebration  of  this  worship  of  the  moon  in  China 
is  very  striking  to  the  eye  of  a stranger  from  a Christian 
land.  The  fifteenth  day  of  the  eighth  Chinese  month, 
which  occurs  about  our  mid-autumn,  is  sacred  to  this 
occasion,  and  is  a day  given  to  general  festivity.  The 
shops  are  closed.  The  air  is  rent  by  continual  explo- 
sions of  gunpowder.  Flags  of  many  forms  and  colors, 
most  of  them  painted  with  astrological  emblems,  are 
seen  waving  in  the  south  wind.  Peculiar  fatty  cakes, 
the  upper  crusts  of  which  are  enriched  with  various  de- 
vices in  red  and  yellow  paint,  and  called  “moon  cakes,” 
are  presented  on  that  day  by  friends  to  each  other  and. 

39 


610 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


by  tbe  rich  to  the  poor.  But  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing ceremonies  of  the  day  is  the  erection  of  lanterns  on 
poles  above  each  house  at  nightfall  amidst  the  thunder 
of  innumerable  cannons,  gongs  and  drums.  Being  sus- 
pended in  pairs  and  disturbed  by  the  wind,  one  sees, 
from  an  elevated  place,  a waving  phosphorescent  sea, 
which  stretches  far  away  to  the  distant  hills.  It  is  an 
act  of  idolatrous  adoration  from  a million  of  souls  to- 
gether to  the  orb  which  is  supposed  to  reveal  herself  in 
her  full  during  this  month  with  more  splendor  than  at 
any  other  period  of  the  year. 

The  worship  of  the  god  To-ti  has  been  introduced 
into  California.  His  name  signifies  that  he  is  a “ god 
of  the  earth ; ” that  is,  one  who  guards  the  particular 
localities  where  his  image  is  set  up.  It  is  said  that  the 
original  god  worshiped  under  this  name  was  once  a pre- 
fect named  Yang  Shing,  who  lived  during  the  third  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era.  He  ruled  over  a department 
whose  inhabitants  were  remarkable  for  being  small  of 
stature  and  delicate  in  their  appearance.  It  was  the 
practice  of  the  emperors  of  that  period  to  annually 
carry  off  several  hundred  of  them  to  the  palace,  where 
they  were  mutilated  in  their  persons  and  made  chamber- 
lains, and  thus  were  devoted  to  a cruel,  perpetual  slavery 
and  separation  from  their  homes.  This  humane  officer 
having  strongly  represented  their  case  to  the  emperor, 
they  were  relieved  from  that  oppression.  Hence  after 
death  he  was  deified  by  the  grateful  people  with  the 
name  of  To-ti  and  worship  instituted  in  honor  of  him 
in  Taou-chau,  which  has  spread  abroad  until  it  is  now 
celebrated  all  over  the  empire.  He  is  classed  among  the 
gods  of  happiness  and  of  wealth.  He  confers  prosperity 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  611 


in  business.  His  more  especial  care  is  tbe  protection  of 
streets  and  dwellings  from  evil  spirits  and  ill-fortune. 
It  is  understood  now,  however,  that  it  is  not  this  same 
individual  who  is  worshiped  in  connection  with  each  im- 
age and  in  various  streets,  but  a mere  image  is  erected, 
to  which  they  attribute  the  presence  of  the  spirit  of  some 
other  man  of  virtue  and  renown  whom  they  prefer, 
especially  of  some  one  who  may  have  lived  in  their  own 
neighborhood. 

The  god  of  fire,  Hwa-kwang,  is  worshiped  annually 
on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  the  ninth  month  by  many 
of  the  Chinese  in  this  country,  in  order  to  secure  his 
protection  of  their  shops  and  dwellings  from  being 
burned.  He  is  commonly  represented  with  a third  eye 
in  the  middle  of  the  forehead,  with  which  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be  able  to  see  a thousand  miles  and  to  watch 
over  the  welfare  of  his  friends  even  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night. 

To  guard  their  health  many  worship  Pin  Tseuh,  who 
was  a celebrated  physician  of  antiquity  not  long  after 
the  times  of  Fuhi,  the  founder  of  the  empire.  A demi- 
god gave  to  him  some  medicine,  which  he  was  to  take 
during  thirty  days,  that  enabled  him  to  see  the  internal 
motions  and  disorders  of  all  the  viscera  of  his  patients. 
He  extensively  exercised  the  power  thus  acquired,  and 
gained  great  fame.  It  is  declared  that  he  was  even  able 
to  raise  the  dead. 

The  women  worship  gods  and  goddesses,  who  they 
imagine  protect  them  in  their  dangers,  afford  them  help 
and  comfort  in  their  times  of  trial  and  grant  them  the 
objects  of  their  desire.  The  images  often  seen  of  a god- 
dess with  a child  in  her  arms  are  generally  those  of 


612  THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE . 

Kwan-yan,  “the  hearer  of  cries,”  to  whom  they  and  some 
classes  of  men  who  are  much  exposed  to  danger,  such  as 
sailors,  offer  devout  worship.  This  goddess  was  a vir- 
gin of  the  province  of  Fu-kien,  who  on  account  of  her 
holiness  was  granted  miraculous  powers,  which  she  ex- 
erted specially  in  behalf  of  those  who  were  in  trouble. 
In  many  points  her  worship  reminds  one  of  that  of  the 
virgin  Mary  by  Romanists. 

There  are  several  rooms  fitted  up  in  San  Francisco 
and  other  places  on  our  Pacific  coast  for  temples.  They 
are  chiefly  connected  with  “ company  houses,”  are  quite 
a source  of  revenue  to  some  men  who  have  the  care  of 
them,  and  will  be  zealously  maintained  on  that  account, 
and  because  the  gods  are  sometimes  those  which  are  wor- 
shiped by  the  people  of  the  district  in  China  whence  the 
members  of  the  company  have  come. 

The  characteristic  and  favorite  religion  of  the  Chinese 
is  the  worship  of  ancestors  and  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 
The  interpretation  of  this  is  very  simple.  It  is  but  the 
affection  and  the  reverence  of  children  for  parents  fol- 
lowing them  beyond  the  veil  of  the  invisible  world  and 
attributing  to  them  the  continuance  of  their  willingness 
and  power  to  aid.  And  the  worship  which  is  rendered 
to  these  spirits  may  be  said  to  be  just  what  human 
parents  might  be  supposed  to  require,  only  in  a more 
ethereal  form. 

In  San  Francisco  each  spring  and  autumn  a noisy 
procession  with  gongs,  drums  and  clarionets,  having 
several  wagons  loaded  with  trays  containing  whole  roast 
pigs,  ducks,  chickens  and  other  meats,  and  pastry,  con- 
fectionery, fruit  and  cooked  vegetables,  proceeds  to  the 
neighboring  cemeteries.  They  are  despatched  from  the 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  613 


streets  of  the  city  and  received  at  the  grounds  with  the 
firing  of  innumerable  crackers.  The  offerings  are  for- 
mally presented  to  the  spirits  in  front  of  the  tombs, 
whisky  is  sprinkled  in  the  air  for  their  refreshment,  and 
paper  money  is  burned  and  thus  put  into  spiritualized 
currency  such  as  they  can  use.  The  remainder  of  the 
day,  after  the  public  duties  have  been  performed,  is  de- 
voted to  feasting  and  social  enjoyment. 

In  the  cities  of  China  this  festival  is  the  most  popular 
of  all  in  the  round  of  the  year.  It  is  celebrated  with 
great  fervor  by  all  classes  of  people.  Offerings  are  made 
by  each  family  separately.  In  the  court  of  the  house 
there  may  be  seen  a heap,  perhaps  several  feet  in  length, 
of  various  articles  of  clothing  and  common  household  use, 
generally  made  of  paper,  though  sometimes  of  the  ordi- 
nary materials,  with  bundles  of  silver  and  gilt  paper  for 
money.  The  court  is  lighted  up  with  gaudily-painted 
candles  in  rows  around  the  sides.  The  dwellers  of  every 
age  all  busy  themselves  in  making  the  arrangements 
necessary.  Hot  rice  and  other  substantials,  nuts  and 
liquor  or  tea,  are  brought  out.  When  all  is  ready,  acts 
of  worship  are  performed.  Then  the  pile  is  kindled,  and 
the  rice  and  liquor  are  thrown  up  into  the  air.  Every 
scrap  of  paper  is  religiously  gathered  and  burned,  prob- 
ably that  the  garments  of  the  spirits  may  not  be  defect- 
ive. The  more  savory  articles  of  food,  however,  are  not 
thus  profusely  scattered  about,  but  after  they  have  stood 
long  enough  for  the  worthy  ghosts  to  abstract  their 
essence,  they  seem  still  capable  of  affording  considerable 
relish  to  the  coolies  and  boys  that  scramble  for  them. 
Many  of  the  Chinese  believe  that  these  provisions  are 
insipid  after  the  ghosts  have  satisfied  their  hunger,  but 


614 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


some  are  so  bold  as  to  say  that  they  do  not  notice  much 
difference  in  the  taste.  It  is  not  alone  what  is  required 
for  food  and  raiment  that  is  despatched  to  the  unseen 
world.  Through  the  agency  of  flames,  which  spiritualize 
them  and  waft  them  up,  houses  completely  furnished, 
horses,  servants,  sedan-chairs  and  numerous  articles  of 
worldly  luxury  or  ornament,  find,  as  these  deluded  peo- 
ple believe,  access  there. 

The  same  intense  feeling  of  attachment  to  kindred 
leads  them  to  offer  oblations  to  the  spirits  of  the  deceased, 
to  make  annual  visits  to  their  tombs  in  order  to  repair 
them,  and  to  carry  back  to  the  burial-places  in  their  na- 
tive villages  the  bones  of  those  who  die  away  from  them. 
Thousands  of  skeletons  have  thus  been  taken  from  Cali- 
fornia. The  people  of  various  districts  of  the  province 
of  Canton  have  formed  among  themselves  on  the  Pacific 
coast  benevolent  societies  whose  members  pay  each  a fee 
of  several  dollars.  This  guarantees  the  transportation 
of  their  bones  home  in  case  of  their  own  death,  and  helps 
to  do  the  same  for  those  of  all  the  individuals  who  have 
come  from  the  same  district.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  have  been  paid  by  these  societies  for  coffins, 
internal  transportation,  that  on  shipboard  and  other 
expenses. 

These  associations  are  purely  voluntary,  and  may  not 
be  connected  with  their  ui-kuns,  or  “ companies.”  The 
following  is  a translation  of  a portion  of  the  report  of  one 
whose  headquarters  was  at  San  Francisco,  styled  the 
Chih-shin  (or  beneficial)  Association : 

“The  benevolent  purposes  for  which  the  Chih-shin 
Association  was  established  were  first  put  into  effect  in 
the  autumn  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-four.  The 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  615 


work  was  carried  on  till  the  present  time — that  is,  the 
summer  of  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five — and  now,  on 
the  second  day  of  the  fifth  month  (June)  is  completed. 
A vessel  has  sailed  conveying  the  coffins  to  our  native 
villages.  There  remained,  however,  but  a balance  of 
somewhat  over  four  hundred  dollars,  which  we  fear 
would  be  scarcely  enough  to  pay  for  their  transportation 
from  Hong-kong  to  Pun-sha-wan,  and  would  not  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  sacrifices  to  the  dead.  After  consul- 
tation together,  it  has  been  resolved  that  those  who  have 
not  paid  be  requested  to  hand  over  at  once  the  subscrip- 
tions due,  for  remittance  to  China,  so  that  the  amount 
necessary  may  be  made  up  for  the  sacrifices  and  for  the 
erection  of  tombs,  and  that  the  accounts  of  the  Associa- 
tion may  be  closed.  We  present  the  following  report, 
and  request  gentlemen  to  notify  us  of  any  mistakes  in  it 
previous  to  the  expiration  of  the  eighth  month.  When 
the  subscriptions  have  been  paid  the  books  will  be  for- 
warded to  China  and  the  tombs  be  put  up.  No  pro- 
vision, however,  will  be  made  for  tombs  for  those  whose 
friends  here  do  not  pay  before  the  time  limited  ex- 
pires, and  record  will  be  also  made  of  their  deficiency. 
We  desire  earnestly  the  payment  of  the  sums  due,  that 
these  benevolent  objects  may  be  accomplished  and  that 
they  may  bear  their  good  fruits.  We  pray  all  to  exert 
themselves  to  this  effect,  that  the  end  may  be  attained, 
no  excuse  left  those  who  are  negligent,  and  that  all 
may  share  the  happiness  and  the  merit  which  they 
deserve.” 

This  extreme  anxiety  concerning  the  bones  of  the 
dead  is  caused  by  the  belief  that  their  spirits  will  haunt 
the  survivors  if  proper  respect  for  them  be  not  shown, 


616 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


that  the  fortunes  and  the  bodily  health  and  comfort  of 
their  descendants  depend  largely  upon  the  proper  selec- 
tion of  the  tombs  of  parents  and  kindred,  and  by  the 
interest  felt  in  each  other  by  members  of  the  same  clan 
or  neighborhood.  The  selection  of  a proper  spot  for  the 
tomb  is  a matter  of  great  concern.  The  professional 
diviner  is  employed  to  examine  lucky  sites  and  decide 
upon  the  one  most  suitable.  The  hills  around  a Chinese 
city  are  scattered  over  with  tombs,  for  there  are  no  com- 
mon cemeteries.  The  great  points  in  regard  to  sepulture 
are  to  secure  high  ground  on  either  side,  especially  on 
the  left — -dry  ground  and  yet  proximity  to  a stream  which 
curves  toward  the  tomb  at  its  nearest  point,  as  this  tends 
to  direct  the  general'  good  influences  of  nature  toward 
it — and  the  absence  of  any  large  rocks  on  the  surface. 
Wealthy  men  spend  thousands  of  dollars  in  ascertaining 
a spot  where  their  spirits  will  be  satisfied  and  which  will 
secure  prosperity  and  health  to  their  families.  And 
bloody  fights  sometimes  follow  the  interference  of  one 
clan  or  family  with  the  tombs  of  another. 

The  fung-shvmi,  or  powers  of  nature  (literally,  “ winds 
and  waters”),  must  be  consulted  in  regard  to  many  indi- 
vidual and  public  affairs.  It  is  a mysterious  superstition, 
which  is  universal  and  most  powerful.  All  classes  of 
society  humbly  bow  before  it.  If  the  house  be  lower  than 
some  around  it,  or  if  it  front  unsuitably  toward  some 
quarter  of  the  compass,  or  course  of  a stream,  or  the 
ordinary  currents  of  wind,  or  if  it  be  overshadowed  by 
the  tree  of  a stranger  or  enemy,  then  no  expense  will  be 
spared  to  correct  the  evil.  One  method  is,  to  erect  a tall 
flag-staff  which  shall  overpower  the  antagonistic  influ- 
ences. The  direction  given  in  an  almanac  for  the  man- 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  617 


ner  of  doing  this  will  convey  an  idea  of  its  meaning.  It 
is  as  follows : 

“ For  a fortunate  flag-staff  use  a long,  solid  beam.  To 
a transverse  pole,  at  the  top,  suspend  a wooden  cover 
formed  of  four  sides  and  an  inclined  roof  like  a house, 
to  jDrotect  the  lantern  beneath  from  the  rain.  "Write 
upon  one  side  of  the  lantern,  in  a handsome  character, 
the  word  ‘ Peace on  the  opposite  the  name  of  the  god 
Tsz-mi-yuen.  Then  the  god  will  enter  and  establish 
himself  there.  If  there  be  any  evil  influence  exerted 
upon  you  from  the  neighborhood,  whether  it  be  from  a 
large  tree,  from  a lantern-staff,  from  a high  residence, 
from  a watch-tower,  from  an  official  residence  or  build- 
ing, or  from  the  house  of  an  enemy,  the  erection  of 
this  staff  will  be  found  efficient  for  your  protection. 
Should  there  be  a house  in  front  of  your  family  resi- 
dence higher  than  your  own,  let  a staff  of  moderate 
height  be  raised  at  your  back  door  or  in  the  open  court 
behind  the  house.  If  there  be  a dwelling-house  or  a 
high  wall  behind  you,  raise  a flag-staff  in  your  front 
open  court,  or  before  your  door,  to  counteract  its  influ- 
ence. Thus  you  will  obtain  prosperity.” 

There  is  a slavish  bondage  to  appointed  times  and 
seasons  which  are  supposed  to  be  lucky  or  unlucky.  The 
almanacs  are  full  of  directions  in  regard  to  matters  which 
may  be  done  or  which  should  be  avoided  on  days  which 
the  stars,  the  powers  of  nature  and  the  gods  constitute  to 
be  lucky  or  unlucky.1  Thus  the  lives  of  men  and  women 

1 The  following  directions  with  regard  to  certain  unlucky  days  will  serve 
as  a specimen : 

“ General  matters  to  be  avoided. 

“On  ham  chi  day:  to  make  a visit  to  a distance  to  a feast;  to  marry  a 
wife. 


618 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


are  made  miserable,  families  are  subjected  to  great  and 
unceasing  inconvenience  and  expense,  and  a large  class 
of  men,  many  of  whom  are  very  wicked  and  cunning,  is 
supported  in  a life  of  imposture  and  folly. 

The  blessings  or  calamities  of  life  are  referred  to  a 
multitude  of  influences  good  and  evil  which  act  upon 
the  person,  the  family  or  the  employments,  and  which 
must  be  traced  out  and  means  taken  to  propitiate  the 
sources  of  them.  Thus,  on  a given  day,  if  a man  be 
taken  with  a fever,  he  consults  the  diviner  or  books  on 
the  subject,  and  is  informed  that  he  received  the  evil 
influence  in  a north-east  direction.  It  may  have  origin- 
ated from  the  evil  gods  of  the  four  points  of  the  compass, 
from  wandering  gods,  from  injurious  male  or  female 
spirits,  or  from  the  gods  of  the  household,  or  from  dis- 
pleased spirits  of  one’s  ancestors.  There  will  probably 
be,  he  is  told,  chilliness  and  then  heat  in  the  extremities 
and  in  the  bones  and  muscles.  It  is  a very  serious  dis- 
ease. He  is  instructed  to  take  five  hundred  sheets  of  a 
certain  prepared  black  paper  money,  a horse  made  of 
paper,  a cup  of  water,  a bowl  of  rice  and  some  fruit  and 

“ On  hau  lung  day : to  build  a vessel ; to  start  on  a voyage ; to  build  a bridge ; 
to  finish  the  roof  of  a house. 

“On  sam  pat  chi  day:  to  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  official  duties;  to  go  to 
war. 

“ On  ng  pat  u day : to  speculate  or  gamble  for  money  ; to  apprehend  knaves ; 
to  pay  a visit  for  consultation  as  to  personal  affairs. 

“ On  sz  hii : to  open  a granary. 

“On  tsiit  hi:  to  build  an  outhouse. 

“ On  cheung  tun  day : to  make  exchanges  of  property ; to  open  a place  of 
business ; to  make  clothes ; to  have  any  new  person  enter  the  house. 

“ On  hut  chi  day : to  use  moxa  in  the  cure  of  disease ; to  kill  horses,  oxen, 
pigs,  sheep,  dogs  or  chickens  for  food.” 

On  certain  other  days. named:  “To  engage  in  a lawsuit;  to  betroth  a wife; 
to  arbitrate  a business;  to  collect  debts;  to  lay  by  money;  to  remove  to  a new 
house ; to  return  to  a place  from  a distance.” 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  619 


wine.  He  must  arrange  and  offer  these  in  a northern 
direction.  A return  of  good  fortune  will  be  the  result. 
There  is  furnished  to  him  also  a form  of  a charm,  which 
is  to  be  written  and  pasted  on  the  wall  for  his  future 
protection. 

The  Chinese,  in  common  with  all  the  other  nations  of 
Eastern  Asia,  hold  decided  views  in  regard  to  the  reward 
of  good  and  punishment  of  evil  deeds,  both  in  this  life 
and  in  that  which  is  to  come.  Thus  we  find  in  a tract 
by  Lau-tsz,  the  founder  of  the  Tauist,  or  Rationalist, 
sect  the  following  passage : 

“Adversity  and  prosperity  have  no  door  of  entrance 
except  as  men  draw  upon  themselves  the  recompense  of 
their  good  or  evil  deeds.  Yet  this  follows  our  acts  just 
as  shadow  follows  substance.  For  this  reason  there  are 
in  heaven  and  on  earth  gods  which  have  the  oversight 
of  crime.  In  proportion  to  men’s  offences  do  these  gods 
shorten  the  measure  of  their  years.  With  shortened  years 
is  sent  also  poverty.  Sorrow  and  care  are  inflicted  upon 
them.  Mankind  are  stirred  up  to  hate  them.  Ven- 
geance follows  them.  Prosperity  flies  from  them.  The 
stars  of  evil  shed  upon  them  calamity.  Thus  life  is 
early  exhausted  and  they  perish.  The  gods  of  the  con- 
stellations about  the  North  star  stand  always  above  men 
in  order  to  record  their  sins,  and  at  the  appointed  hour 
to  snap  the  thread  of  life.  Within  the  body  the  three 
gods  of  death  abide,  and  twice  in  each  month  ascend  to 
the  court  of  heaven  to  report  the  misdeeds  of  men.  The 
gods  of  the  fire-place  do  the  same  as  each  successive 
month  is  closed.  .If  a man’s  crimes  be  excessive,  his 
years  are  cut  off  by  scores ; if  less,  they  are  cut  off  in 
smaller  measures.  But,  be  his  sins  great  or  small,  when 


620 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


they  have  reached  a few  hundreds  in  number  he  must 
entirely  forsake  evil  if  he  would  ask  for  length  of  days.” 
It  is  a doctrine  of  the  Buddhist  priesthood  which  is  • 
commonly  accepted  by  the  people  that  the  spirit,  on 
leaving  the  body,  at  once  passes  to  give  its  account  be- 
fore the  presence  of  “ the  ten  judgment  gods,”  and  is 
there  confronted  with  the  records  of  all  its  good  and  evil 
deeds.  Evil  spirits  stand  up  as  its  accusers  and  good 
spirits  as  its  advocates.  According  to  the  award  then 
given,  it  passes  into  some  higher  or  lower  form  of  being 
or  place  of  reward  or  of  punishment.  The  good  are  sent 
into  some  more  prosperous  and  happy  form  of  being,  or 
directly  into  a paradise  of  the  gods  and  saints.  The  bad 
are  punished  by  being  consigned  to  inhabit  the  bodies 
of  the  more  wretched  and  suffering  inhabitants  of  earth, 
or  those  of  brutes  or  reptiles,  or  are  driven  by  demons 
into  some  one  of  the  numerous  hells.  The  punishment 
corresponds  somewhat  in  its  nature  with  the  character 
of  the  vices  or  crimes  of  the  offender.  Gluttons  and 
debauchees,  for  instance,  are  represented  as  plunged  in 
lakes  of  blood  and  filth;  those- that  hoard  grain  in  order 
to  raise  the  price  of  it  and  wrong  the  poor  as  changed 
into  starving  brutes ; those  that  have  deceived  and  de- 
luded the  young  as  freezing  in  lakes  of  ice;  those 
cruel  to  beasts  as  devoured  by  them  in  turn ; and  those 
guilty  of  lying  and  falsehood  as  having  their  tongues 
torn  out  by  the  roots  or  pierced  through  with  red-hot 
iron  daggers  ; the  most  wicked  are  tossed  by  demons 
into  furnaces  of  fire.  The  general  ideas  of  future  re- 
ward and  punishment  appear  to  have  been  handed 
down  from  a very  early  period  in  the  history  of 
mankind. 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  621 


Buddhist  monastic  institutions  are  common  in  every 
city.  The  priests  and  nuns  make  vows  of  abstinence 
from  animal  food,  of  perpetual  celibacy  and  of  poverty. 
They  dress  in  long  black  or  gray  robes,  and  wear  their 
beads  shaved  all  over  and  their  feet  bare.  In  the  mon- 
asteries they  celebrate  matin  and  vesper  services,  recite 
long  liturgies  in  honor  of  various  gods,  which  are  in  the 
Pali,  a dead  language.  They  mark  the  number  of  the 
prayers  repeated  with  the  strokes  of  bells,  they  illuminate 
the  gloom  with  long  painted  candles  and  perfume  the  air 
with  incense.  There  is  a multitude  of  points  of  analogy 
which  plainly  indicate  the  Asiatic  source  of  most  of  the 
corruptions  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  West. 

It  should  be  understood  by  all  our  readers  that  a Chi- 
nese does  not  consider  himself  connected  with  any  one  sect 
unless  he  be  a regular  priest  or  formally  associated  with 
it.  Men  and  women  worship  where  and  when  they  think 
proper,  and  just  such  gods  or  goddesses  of  any  sect  as 
may  please  them.  A god  of  one  temple  may  be  pre- 
ferred to-day,  that  of  another  for  a different  object,  or 
the  same  object,  to-morrow.  The  officers  of  a city  are 
accustomed  to  select  a variety  of  deities  and  publicly  an- 
nounce acts  of  worship  to  them  at  convenient  seasons,  in 
order  to  secure  habits  of  reverence  for  religion  in  the 
popular  mind.1  And  this  is  done  by  men  of  great  intel- 

1 The  following  appointments  for  the  “ sacrifices  of  the  eighth  month”  were 
made  at  Canton : 

2d  day.  To  Wan-chang  (a  god  of  literature)  at  his  own  temple;  offered  by 
the  commissary  of  grain. 

6th.  The  provincial  treasurer  will  offer  at  the  temple  of  Wan-chang. 

7th.  To  the  gods  of  the  soil  and  the  gods  of  grain. 

8th.  To  the  gods  of  the  wind. 

12th.  To  the  god  of  war,  Kwan-ti;  by  the  provincial  judge. 

loth.  To  the  dragon  king. 


622 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


ligence,  who  privately  laugh  at  the  follies  and  supersti- 
tions to  which  they  have  given  public  sanction. 

In  comparing  the  Chinese  systems  of  superstition  with 
those  of  India,  we  observe  some  very  marked  differences 
which  indicate  the  superior  mental  character  of  the 
former.  Caste,  while  Buddhism  is  accepted  as  a general 
creed,  is  stricken  from  it  in  China,  along  with  all  its 
burdensome  and  odious  precepts  as  to  food,  clothing  and 
the  intercourse  of  men.  In  the  public  worship  of  the 
gods  there  are  no  acts  of  indecency  or  licentiousness. 
And  there  are  no  exhibitions  of  cruelty,  like  hook-swing- 
ing, the  terrible  car  of  Jugernaut,  the  burning  of  widows 
or  systematic  murder.  There  are  many  features  of  Chi- 
nese idolatry  which  are  absurd,  painful  and  offensive, 
but  none  so  revolting  or  terrible  as  those. 

The  very  summary  view  which  I have  presented  of 
the  superstitions  of  the  Chinese  is  sufficient  to  show 
plainly  that  they  possess  important  portions  of  the  reve- 
lations made  by  God  to  the  first  members  of  the  human 
family,  or  distributed  from  their  seat  in  Palestine,  by 
the  agency  of  the  surrounding  commercial  nations,  into 

15th.  The  prefect  of  the  department  of  Kwang-chau  will  sacrifice  to  Chau- 
clinng. 

21  st.  To  the  god  of  Nan-hai  district,  Hung  Shing-wang;  by  the  provincial 
treasurer. 

22d.  To  the  Queen  of  Heaven ; by  the  salt  commissioner. 

24th.  At  the  temple  of  Yen-lang;  by  the  prefect  of  Kwang-chau. 

25th.  To  the  gods  of  fire. 

Besides  the  above,  there  are  celebrated  during  this  month  the  birth-days  of 
nine  gods ; among  them,  the  gods  of  the  moon,  of  the  fire-place,  “ Buddha  of 
the  kindling-lamp,”  the  spirit  of  wine,  gods  of  thunder,  etc.  The  tenth  day  is 
the  anniversary  of  the  birth-day  of  the  emperor,  on  which  divine  honors  are 
paid  to  him  in  all  the  provinces.  From  the  3d  to  the  27th  the  gods  of  the  con- 
stellation Ursa  Major  descend  on  a special  visit  to  the  earth  to  inspect  and  settle 
the  affairs  of  men,  over  which,  since  those  stars  never  set,  they  are  supposed  to 
keep  incessant  vigil. 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  623 


all  tlie  ancient  world,  and  tliat  God  follows  them  with 
the  voice  of  conscience  and  his  Spirit.  Yet  this  truth 
they  have  corrupted,  so  that  now  all  the  praise  and 
honor  which  belong  to  God  they  give  to  their  idols,  to 
imaginary  beings,  to  the  spirits  of  sinful  men  like  them- 
selves, to  the  stars  of  heaven,  or  to  evil  spirits. 

The  stories  of  their  special  worship  of  Satan  under  the 
name  of  “ Joss”  are  utterly  untrue.  It  is  strange  that 
they  should  have  been  so  often  repeated  of  late,  even  in 
respectable  magazines  and  in  religious  newspapers  whose 
editors  and  contributors  have  had  abundant  access  to 
books  which  give  correct  information  on  this  subject. 
They  do  use  charms  and  other  superstitious  means  to 
avert  the  anger  and  prevent  the  malicious  injuries  of 
themselves  and  families  by  evil  spirits.  But  it  is 
wholly  unjust  to  class  these  among  their  acts  of  relig- 
ious worship. 

Outside  of  the  realm  of  what  could  be  designated 
religious  worship,  there  exists  in  the  Chinese  mind  a 
multitude  of  imaginary  monsters,  bred  in  air,  earth  and 
sea,  which  hold  them  in  constant  dread  of  their  power. 
Their  books  speak  of  multitudes  of  nameless  things  of 
terrible  shapes  which  haunt  the  streets,  the  hills,  the 
rivers.  When  traveling  on  boats,  I have  sometimes  sat 
listening  at  night  to  the  stories  of  strange  sights  and 
sounds  which  the  boatmen  had  to  tell — how  in  the  lonely 
watches  they  had  heard  the  flapping  of  unseen  wings 
which  rushed  by  their  heads,  and  heard  noises  which 
filled  them  with  terror.  They  set  up  in  our  streets  and 
mines  the  images  of  the  gods  of  their  native  land,  be- 
cause they  know  nothing  of  the  only  true  God,  in  the 
hope  of  protection  from  the  injuries  which  malicious 


624 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


beings  inflict,  to  shield  them  from  influences  poisonous 
to  health  and  harmful  as  to  their  pursuits. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Chinese  idolatry  is  the 
same  essentially  with  idolatry  in  other  heathen  lands — 
a strange  mixture  of  ignorance  and  fear ; a bowing  be- 
fore sun,  moon,  stars,  spirits  of  dead  sages  and  dead 
kindred,  and  imaginary  beings  of  good  and  evil ; blind 
anxiety  to  avert  judgments  for  conscious  guilt;  the  pos- 
session of  light,  but  refusal  to  follow  its  guidance ; the 
distinct  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  but  the  obedience 
of  the  great  mass,  with  here  and  there  some  noble  ex- 
ceptions, to  the  impulses  of  nature  and  of  sense.  In 
China,  the  character  of  the  people,  their  physical  cir- 
cumstances, the  peculiarities  of  their  history,  have  saved 
the  race  from  the  utter  and  fearful  debasement  which  is 
seen  in  the  case  of  some  other  heathen  nations.  Still, 
the  elements,  the  tendencies,  the  penalties,  of  Chinese 
heathenism  are  the  same. 

It  has  been  maintained  by  some  unthinking  persons 
that  the  universal  toleration  of  religion  in  America  re- 
. quires  equal  respect  to  be  paid  to  Buddhism  as  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  this  interpretation  has  been  put  upon  an 
article  in  the  Burlingame  treaty.  It  is  freely  acknow- 
ledged that  there  must  be  no  persecution  for  religious 
opinions ; no  interference  with  religious  worship  which 
does  not  publicly  violate  our  laws;  no  disabilities  on 
account  of  their  faith  which  shall  exclude  these  people 
from  security  of  person,  peaceful  possession  of  their 
property  and  the  defence  of  their  natural  rights  before 
our  courts  of  justice;  no  exclusion  of  their  children  from 
the  advantages  of  public  education.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  a multitude  of  decisions  have  established 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  625 


tlie  legal  maxim  that  “ Christianity  is  the  basis  of  the 
common  law.”  Chancellor  Kent  says,  “ Christianity  is 
part  and  parcel  of  the  law  of  the  land.” 1 This  means 
specially  Christianity  as  a system  of  morals.  The  reason 
of  this  is  that  the  revelation  which  God  has  given  to  us 

1 The  reflections  of  the  profoundest  foreign  observer  of  American  institutions 
are  very  weighty  in  regard  to  this  subject.  A.  de  Tocqueville,  Democracy  in 
America,  vol.  i.,  pp.  332-335: 

“ The  Americans  combine  the  notions  of  Christianity  and  of  liberty  so  inti- 
mately in  their  minds  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  them  conceive  the  one 
without  the  other;  and  with  them  this  conviction  does  not  spring  from  that 
barren,  traditionary  faith  which  seems  to  vegetate  in  the  soul  rather  than  to 
live. 

“ In  the  United  States  religion  exercises  but  little  influence  upon  the  laws  and 
upon  the  details  of  public  opinion,  but  it  directs  the  morals  of  the  community, 
and  by  regulating  domestic  life  it  regulates  the  state. 

‘‘  I do  not  question  that  the  great  austerity  of  manners  which  is  observable 
in  the  United  States  arises,  in  the  first  instance,  from  religious  faith.  Religion 
is  often  unable  to  restrain  man  from  the  numberless  temptations  of  fortune,  nor 
can  it  check  that  passion  for  gain  which  every  incident  of  his  life  contributes  to 
arouse ; but  its  influence  over  the  mind  of  woman  is  supreme,  and  women  are 
the  protectors  of  morals.  There  is  certainly  no  country  in  the  world  where  the 
tie  of  marriage  is  so  much  respected  as  in  America,  or  where  conjugal  happiness 
is  more  highly  or  more  worthily  appreciated. 

“I  do  not  know  whether  all  the  Americans  have  a sincere  faith  in  their 
religion — for  who  can  search  the  human  heart? — but  I am  certain  that  they 
hold  it  to  be  indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  republican  institutions.  This 
opinion  is  not  peculiar  to  a class  of  citizens  or  to  a party,  but  it  belongs  to  the 
whole  nation  and  to  every  rank  in  society. 

“Religion  in  America  takes  no  direct  part  in  the  government  of  society,  but 
it  must  nevertheless  be  regarded  as  the  foremost  of  the  political  institutions  of 
that  country ; for  if  it  does  not  impart  a taste  for  freedom,  it  facilitates  the  use 
of  free  institutions. 

“ It  may  be  believed,  without  unfairness,  that  a certain  number  of  Americans 
pursue  a peculiar  form  of  worship  from  habit  more  than  from  conviction.  In 
the  United  States  the  sovereign  authority  is  religious,  and  consequently  hypocrisy 
must  be  common ; but  there  is  no  country  in  the  whole  world  in  which  the 
Christian  religion  retains  a greater  influence  over  the  souls  of  men  than  in 
America,  and  there  can  be  no  greater  proof  of  its  utility  and  of  its  conformity 
to  human  nature  than  that  its  influence  is  most  powerfully  felt  over  the  most 
enlightened  and  free  nation  of  the  earth.” 

40 


626 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


in  the  Bible  is  the  infallible  standard  of  moral  truth,  of 
moral  right  and  of  moral  duties ; and  that  every  other 
system  of  teaching  is  human,  defective  and  more  or  less 
perversive  of  morality. 

Christianity  and  paganism  are  radically  and  for  ever 
irreconcilable.  The  one  adores,  worships  and  serves  the 
true  God ; the  other  adores,  worships  and  serves  false 
gods  and  devils.  The  one  is  founded  on  eternal  truth, 
the  other  on  the  delusions  of  the  father  of  lies.  The 
one  civilizes,  elevates,  blesses  men,  families,  nations ; the 
other  bestializes,  fosters  ignorance,  prejudice  and  decep- 
tion, fills  society  with  fanaticism  or  its  opposite,  skepti- 
cism and  contempt  for  all  religion,  degrades  woman, 
blights  the  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry  and  stops  the  im- 
provement of  the  useful  arts.  The  one  leads  to  virtue 
and  morality,  the  other  to  loathsome  vices  and  abound- 
ing crime.  The  one  to  prosperity,  to  national  influence 
and  power ; the  other  to  decay,  contempt  and  final  over- 
throw, if  there  be  an  almighty  God  who  rules  the  world 
and  is  a righteous  judge. 

' A necessary  conclusion  from  these  premises  is,  that 
the  morality  of  Christianity  deserves  certain  political 
immunities  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  its  teaching ; 
which  means  chiefly  that  its  edifices  should  not  be  taxed 
by  law,  on  the  ground  that  its  influence  is  worth  far 
more  pecuniarily  to  the  government  than  the  amount  of 
money  at  which  its  property  would  be  assessed  for  taxa- 
tion. It  is  cheaper,  that  is,  to  remit  twenty  millions  of 
dollars  to  teach  men  principles  which  will  make  them 
honest,  industrious,  merciful  and  chaste,  than  it  is  to  pay 
a hundred  millions  to  punish  them  for  murders,  violence, 
robberies  and  licentious  crimes.  But  it  seems  to  be  a 


MORAL  'ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  627 


just  conclusion  that  idolatry,  which  tends  to  blind  even 
the  natural  light  which  God  has  given  to  man  through 
tradition  and  conscience  and  nature,  should  at  the  least 
not  enjoy  similar  immunities.  It  should  not  be  perse- 
cuted. But  its  property  should  be  counted,  the  same  as 
that  devoted  to  all  ordinary  purposes,  subject  to  taxation. 
On  the  lowest  ground  of  consideration,  its  moral  influ- 
ence is  not  pecuniarily  equivalent  in  value  to  the  amount 
of  taxes  which,  its  property  should  pay. 

Should  the  testimony  of  the  Chinese  be  admitted 
against  white  persons  in  our  courts  of  justice?  The  de- 
cision of  the  supreme  court  of  California,  that  they  shall 
be  excluded  on  ethnological  grounds,  is  simply  con- 
temptible in  the  eyes  of  men  of  science.  The  Chinese  is 
a3  far  removed  from  the  Indian  or  the  negro  as  is  the 
Indo-European  family.  The  numerous  westward  migra- 
tions of  portions  of  the  Turanian  family  indeed  have 
mside  ourselves  to  be  more  closely  allied  with  the  Indian 
than  the  Chinese  are.  The  only  conclusion  from  such  a 
method  of  reasoning  is  that  if  the  Chinese  are  Indians, 
then  we  are  Indians;  if  the  Chinese  are  negroes,  then 
we  are  negroes.  But,  without  reference  to  the  origin  of 
the  races,  this  confusion  of  what  is  distinct,  this  dan- 
geious  mode  of  construing  law  by  expediency  and  policy, 
meet  with  the  severe  reprobation  of  every  sound  lawyer. 
“ Statutes,  for  any  cause,  disabling  any  persons  of  full 
age  and  sound  mind  to  make  contracts,  are  to  be  con- 
strued strictly;  for,  though  founded  in  policy  and  a just 
regard  to  the  public  welfare,  they  are  a derogation  of 
private  rights.”  And  “ statutes  made  in  derogation  of 
the  common  law  are  to  be  construed  strictly.” 1 

1 Ccrtis,  United.  States  Digest,  iii.,  p.  486. 


628 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Nor  is  it  right  to  exclude  Chinese  testimony  on  the 
ground  of  religion.  They  have  rights  of  humanity  which 
must  he  protected.  They  should  be  held  to  be  competent 
to  bear  witness  where  those  rights  are  affected ; the  only 
question  can  justly  be  as  to  the  degree  of  credibility  to 
be  allowed  to  them.  The  question  arises,  Should  their 
oath  be  received  in  our  courts  ? The  English  common 
law  grants  that  it  shall.  Starkie  (on  Evidence)  says : 
“All  persons  may  be  sworn  who  believe  in  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  a future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
and  in  the  obligation  of  an  oath.”  This  is  generally 
understood  to  include  pagans,  especially  those  of  the 
Buddhist  and  Brahminic  creeds,  who  acknowledge  a 
Supreme  Moral  Governor  above  all  the  gods,  and  one  or 
more  tribunals  before  which  an  exact  account  must  be 
given  of  every  act  in  the  body ; and  who  appeal  to  him 
and  to  other  deities  by  oath.  In  the  case  of  Omichund 
v.  Barker  it  is  laid  down  as  a principle  that  any  belief 
other  than  Christianity,  which  acknowledged  a supreme 
and  future  Judge,  justified  the  admission  of  an  oath,  and 
that  it  is  to  be  administered  in  any  mode  that  may  be 
binding  on  the  conscience.  An  atheist  may  not  be 
sworn.  “ But,”  says  the  report  of  the  case,  “ at  this  day 
it  seems  to  be  settled  that  infidelity  of  any  kind  doth  not 
go  to  [against]  the  competency  of  a witness.”  Bedfield 
says,  “ This  must  mean  infidelity  as  contradistinguished 
from  Christianity .”  The  case  of  Omichund  v.  Barker 
referred  to  the  depositions  of  certain  Hindus,  a people 
more  swarthy  in  color  than  the  Chinese,  and  inferior  to 
them  in  intelligence  and  in  moral  and  religious  cha- 
racter. Lord  Mansfield,  alluding  to  this  and  others 
similar,  says  that  since  that  time  “ the  nature  of  an  ap- 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  629 


peal  to  Heaven,  which  ought  to  be  received  as  a full 
sanction  to  evidence,  has  been  more  fully  understood.” 
An  American  jurist  says,  “All  that  is  now  required  is, 
that  the  oath  should  bind  the  conscience  of  the  witness.” 

“ It  is  obvious  that  a sincere  Deist,  a Mohammedan,  or  a 

/ 

pagan  of  any  name,  if  he  believe  in  the  existence  of  God, 
as  above  defined,  may  feel  the  sanction  of  an  oath  as  bind- 
ing on  his  conscience  as  the  most  devout  Christian.”  1 
Pagans  of  perhaps  every  important  nation  of  Asia  have 
been  admitted  to  testimony  in  English  and  American 
courts.  Lord  Henry  Brougham,  and  other  most  en- 
lightened judges,  have  sanctioned  the  admission  of  the 
testimony  of  Chinese,  who  have  of  late  years  been  often 
brought  into  the  courts  by  the  now  extensive  commerce 
with  their  empire.  It  must  be  held  to  be  a right  in 
common  law  until  changed  by  statute. 

It  is  a right  which  the  State  of  California,  following 
the  examples  of  several  others  in  the  Union,  solemnly 
recognizes  when  it  says : “ No  person  offered  as  a wit- 
ness shall  be  excluded  on  account  of  his  opinions  or 
matters  of  religious  belief.” 2 And  allowing  the  excep- 
tions which  its  most  illustrious  commentator  does,  of 
those  who  have  committed  crimes  which  made  them 
technically  “ infamous,”  or  are  “ interested,”  the  great 
motto  of  the  common  law,  as  given  in  words,  should 
be  blazoned  on  the  walls  of  every  hall  of  justice:  “All 
witnesses,  of  whatever  religion  or  country,  that  have  the 
use  of  their  reason,  are  to  be  received  and  examined.” 3 

There  has  been  much  doubt  as  to  whether  it  is  better 
to  allow  Chinese  witnesses  to  swear  by  their  heathen 

1 Vermont  Reports,  xiii.,  p.  367.  * Practice  Act,  1856,  \ 192. 

* Blackstone,  Com.,  iii.,  369. 


630 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


deities.  In  California  I resisted  this,  and  prepared  a 
form  of  oath  addressed  to  the  Supreme  and  Only  True 
God,  -which  was  used  in  some  of  the  courts.  I think 
such  an  oath  will  have  as  binding  a force  upon  the  wit- 
ness as  most  others;  and,  besides,  it  does  not  give  the 
solemn  sanction  of  our  courts  of  justice  to  their  super- 
stitions, and  can  be,  and  should  be,  more  justly  and 
severely  punished  as  perjury. 

At  the  present  time,  it  must  be  confessed,  the  Chinese 
opinion  of  our  courts  of  justice  is  not  high.  This  is 
brought  to  view  in  the  Remonstrance  to  Congress.  It 
is  a subject  of  common  conversation  with  them.  An 
amusing  expression  of  it  occurred  at  Sacramento.  A 
Chinese  wrent  into  an  intelligence-office  in  search  of  a 
situation.  While  there  the  conversation  turned  upon 
the  case  of  one  of  his  countrymen,  named  A-Chung, 
who  had  been  arrested  a few  days  before  for  murdering 
a Chinese  woman.  The  proprietor  of  the  intelligence- 
office  expressed  his  opinion  that  A-Chung  would  be 
hung.  The  man  instantly  replied,  “ He  no  hang.  He 
all  same  as  Melican  man.  He  got  two  thousand  dollars ! 
You  sabe  ! no  hab  money,  he  hang.  Hab  plenty  money, 
no  hang.” 

The  character  of  their  women  in  California  has  been 
an  objection  constantly  urged  against  the  Chinese  there. 
Among  the  better  class  of  that  people  this  is  a very 
bitter  subject.  One  of  the  first  of  their  people  who 
came  to  California  was  a woman  from  Hong-kong.  She 
was  a bold,  cunning,  bad  woman,  who  saw  at  once  the 
profit  which  might  be  reaped  from  the  importation  of 
abandoned  women.  She  had  several  brought  over. 
The  respectable  Chinese  in  San  Francisco  used  their 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  631 


utmost  efforts  to  compel  their  return,  but  iu  vain.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  our  courts,  and  these  men 
were  compelled  by  our  laws  to  submit  to  what  they  saw 
would  be  a cause  of  untold  injury  to  their  and  our  people. 
In  my  conversations  with  them  and  admonitions  in  re- 
gard to  this  vice,  I was  often  met  with  this  reply : “ Well, 
if  there  are  bad  women  here,  it  is  the  American  courts 
that  are  to  blame.”  It  is  hard  to  see  how  we  could 
have  kept  them  from  coming,  but  this  the  Chinese  could 
not  understand. 

There  are  now  in  California  probably  about  eight 
thousand  Chinese  females.  The  most  of  these  are  from 
the  tan-lca,  or  “ boat-people,”  an  ignorant,  vicious  race, 
inhabiting  the  boats  upon  the  rivers  and  in  the  harbors 
of  Canton  province.  They  are  considered  by  the  people 
on  shore  to  be  foreigners  from  the  neighboring  countries. 
These  women  have  been  bought  generally  from  their 
parents,  guardians  or  owners  at  sums  varying  from 
thirty  to  two  hundred  dollars  each,  according  to  their 
age,  personal  appearance  and  accomplishments.  Some 
of  them  have  been  taken  by  the  Chinese  who  are  in 
circumstances  to  do  so  to  be  their  secondary  wives,  the 
Hagars  and  Zilpahs  of  their  Oriental  domestic  life. 
There  are  now  several  hundred  Chinese  children  at 
least  on  our  Pacific  coast;  some  persons  have  even 
affirmed  that  there  are  three  thousand.  The  Chinese 
men  are  anxious  to  have  children.  They  are  fond  of 
them;  and  they  desire  sons,  whom  they  may  carry  back 
home  to  take  care  of  them  in  their  old  age,  and  to  main- 
tain the  family  name  and  the  sacrifices  to  the  dead. 

The  majority  of  these  poor  women  lead  a dreadful 
life.  We  prescribed  for  many  of  them  in  our  dispen- 


632 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


sary.  Tlie  diseases  which  are  the  consequence  of  their 
depraved  life  are  too  terrible  to  describe.  Young  and 
pretty  girls  presented  masses  of  putrid  and  poisonous 
rottenness.  And  yet  the  haunts  of  crime  where  they 
were  found  were  partly  supported  by  the  money  of 
profligate  Americans. 

The  testimony  of  some  Americans  who  go  to  China 
as  seamen  and  traders  as  to  the  general  tone  of  female 
character  in  the  Chinese  ports  is  sometimes  bad  enough. 
And  indeed  many  of  these  men  possess  the  first  qualifi- 
cation of  competent  witnesses,  so  far  as  their  acquaint- 
ance extends.  But  those  who  have  had  intercourse  with 
the  better  classes  of  society,  and  with  the  population  re- 
moved from  the  debauching  influence  of  the  ports,  testify 
decidedly  that  woman  occupies  a more  elevated  position 
in  China  than  in  any  other  heathen  country.  Women 
are  never  allowed  to  take  part  in  theatrical  exhibitions. 
The  wives  are  generally  chaste,  the  sanctity  of  domestic 
life  is  rarely  invaded,  and  the  relation  of  even  the  sec- 
ondary wife,  when  one  is  taken  in  order  to  increase  the 
number  of  children,  is  not  abused  to  general  licentious- 
ness. When  women  advance  in  life  they  are  treated 
with  great  respect  and  tenderness  by  their  children  and 
grandchildren.  The  empire  is  now  virtually  ruled  by 
the  widowed  empress  of  Hien-fung  during  the  minority 
of  her  son  Tung-chi.  Some  of  the  best  fruit  of  mission- 
ary labor  in  China  has  been  among  the  women.  Several 
missionary  ladies  have  informed  me  that  the  estimate  of 
female  character  in  China  by  some  of  our  earlier  mis- 
sionaries was  a mistaken  one ; that  the  more  they  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  women  removed  from  inter- 
course with  foreigners  the  more  they  found  that  was 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  633 


interesting  and  pleasant  in  them,  and  the  more  that 
was  hopeful  in  respect  to  the  influence  of  the  gospel 
upon  them,  and  upon  their  families  and  kindred. 

Upon  principles  of  Christian  morality  the  Chinese 
should  be  induced,  by  every  possible  means,  to  bring 
their  wives  and  families  to  this  country.  They  must  be 
corrupted  and  their  influence  corrupting  so  long  as  they 
do  not  bring  them.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  are 
great.  Their  prejudices,  the  expenses  of  living  here, 
the  wants  of  parents  and  of  children  in  China,  and 
many  other  excuses,  will  be  given.  But  inducements 
should  be  offered  by  employers  and  ship-captains  toward 
bringing  their  families  with  them.  Their  moral  im- 
provement would  be  thus  greatly  accelerated. 

Gambling  is  a passion  with  the  lower  classes  of  the 
Chinese.  They  are  brought  up  to  the  habit  of  playing 
games  of  chance  and  investing  their  juvenile  pocket- 
money  upon  the  results.  They  bet  upon  dice,  lots,  tosses 
of  coin  and  of  marked  pieces  of  wood,  the  whirling  of 
pointers  to  mark  letters  and  figures  on  a card,  and  many 
other  methods  of  appeal  to  the  gods  of  fortune.  When 
they  grow  to  adult  years  the  majority  of  them  super- 
stitiously  hope  for  prosperity  through  their  favor.  In 
California,  the  favorite  game  is  that  of  “ squaring  cash.” 
A handful  of  tsin,  the  common  small  copper  coin,  larger 
than  a silver  dime,  with  a hole  in  the  middle,  is  taken 
from  a quantity  in  a large  bag,  laid  down  upon  a table 
and  quickly  covered  with  an  inverted  cup.  Bets  are 
then  made  as  to  the  number  which  will  be  left  after  all 
the  multiples  of  four  have  been  taken  away.  With  a 
pointed  stick  the  counter  separates  them  by  four  at  a 
time.  Each  one  round  the  table  is  at  liberty  to  bet 


634 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


whether  there  will  finally  be  a remainder  of  one,  two, 
three,  or  none.  Over  this  simple  game  they  hang  en- 
tranced the  night  through,  watching,  after  their  bets 
have  been  put  on  record,  the  slow  act  of  division  by  the 
pointer  which  is  to  decide  the  balance.  The  sad  results 
are  the  same  among  them  as  wTith  our  own  people  who 
follow  such  practices — fevered  excitement,  heavy  losses, 
treachery  and  dishonesty  to  friends  in  business,  remorse, 
suicide.  Many  a poor  fellow  has  destroyed  himself  with 
opium  rather  than  endure  the  penalties  of  his  folly. 
There  are  among  the  Chinese,  and  especially  among  the 
more  wealthy  and  educated  class,  a large  number  who 
hold  such  games  to  be  exceedingly  disreputable  and  im- 
moral. They  rebuke  them  in  the  severest  language,  and 
give  away  small  printed  tracts  which  exhibit  their  bad 
results.  The  penal  code  of  the  present  dynasty  declares 
that  persons  convicted  of  gambling  for  money  or  goods 
shall  be  punished  with  eighty  blows  of  the  bamboo,  and 
that  the  money  or  goods  staked  shall  be  forfeited  to  the 
government.  It  condemns  gambling-houses  to  similar 
forfeiture.  If  an  officer  of  government  be  found  guilty 
of  the  offence,  he  must  be  punished  more  severely  than 
other  persons.  I have  seen,  in  China,  the  officers,  though 
sometimes  they  are  bribed  to  keep  their  eyes  shut,  yet 
often  pounce  down  upon  these  establishments  and  clean 
them  out  thoroughly.  There  is  far  more  gambling  in 
California  than  among  the  same  number  of  people  in 
China.  Inviting  signs  to  try  their  luck,  and  promising 
wrealth,  meet  the  eyes  of  the  strangers  from  the  mines  at 
every  turn.  Many  a man  who  has  borne  a reputable 
character  in  his  native  town  is  there  beguiled  into  evil, 
beggared  and  ruined. 


' •'  *> 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  635 

The  national  vice  of  opium-smoking  is  enfeebling  and 
destroying  many  of  the  Chinese  in  California.  There  is 
none  the  influence  of  which  is  more  to  be  regretted  in 
regard  to  its  future  influence  upon  Chinese  industry  in 
this  country.  Its  effects  have  been  described  elsewhere 
in  this  volume  (chap.  xiii.).  They  need  not  be  recited 
again.  I have  had  some  sad  experience  in  connection 
with  the  abuse  of  opium.  Some  of  the  brightest  young 
merchants  who  entered  my  school  fell  victims  to  it. 
A fine  young  man,  who  had  been  thoroughly  edu- 
cated at  our  boarding-school  at  Canton,  became  a slave 
to  it.  It  seems  often  to  select  the  brightest  and  noblest. 
Like  a serpent,  it  winds  around  them  its  slow  and  fatal 
coil  and  strangles  them  to  death. 

The  heavy  duty  upon  opium  leads  to  innumerable  de- 
vices to  smuggle  it.  Thus  another  source  of  corruption 
is  opened.  The  whole  effect  of  this  abominable  poison 
upon  all  who  touch  it  seems  destructive  of  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  morality. 

But,  while  we  dwell  upon  the  public  vices  of  the  Chi- 
nese, let  us  not  forget  that  they  have  been  remarkable  in 
California  for  some  excellences. 

Though  they  have  occasional  fights  between  men  of 
different  companies,  who  cherish  the  old  animosities  of 
their  native  villages,  yet  they  are  the  most  industrious 
and  peaceable  race  in  California.  There  are  fewer 
murderous  brawls  among  them  than  among  any  other 
people. 

It  is  a matter  of  wonder  to  Americans  that  there  is  so 
little  drunkenness  among  the  Chinese.  It  is  their  uni- 
versal custom  to  take  a small  quantity  of  their  rice- 
whisky,  our  American  article,  or  of  brandy,  after  dinner. 


636 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


They  sometimes  become  somewhat  merry  at  the  table, 
and  some  even  intoxicated.  But  while  drunken  men  of 
every  other  nation  may  be  seen  reeling,  swearing,  be- 
having indecently,  in  the  streets  of  the  cities  and  towns 
of  California,  a drunken  Chinese  is  never  seen. 

Their  own  poor  are  provided  for  out  of  the  funds  of 
the  companies  and  by  subscriptions  among  those  who 
have  the  means.  They  manage  to  bear  what  is  a heavy 
burden.  And  many  a sick  man  has  been  sent  back  to 
China  in  the  same  way.  I have  heard  of  cases  of  sick 
Americans  and  white  foreigners  in  the  mines  to  whose 
relief  the  Chinese  had  contributed  handsomely. 

In  their  native  land  the  Chinese  are  accustomed  to 
give  money  freely  to  religious  and  benevolent  objects. 
The  structure  of  society  there,  the  denseness  of  popula- 
tion, the  number  of  the  poor,  and  the  distinct  Buddhist 
promises  of  reward  to  the  benevolent  and  specifications 
of  punishment  upon  the  cruel,  the  selfish  and  the  ava- 
ricious, have  a powerful  effect  in  stimulating  acts  of 
charity  and  liberality.  An  immeasurable  amount  of 
poverty  and  suffering  meets  the  eye  of  the  foreigner  in 
China.  But  yet  those  who  have  the  means  dispense 
money  with  much  generosity.  Our  missionaries,  par- 
ticularly during  the  scenes  of  famine,  sickness  and  gen- 
eral distress  which  have  accompanied  the  recent  wars 
and  rebellions,  have  often  -witnessed  the  most  liberal 
efforts  made  to  feed  the  hungry  with  rice  and  other 
food,  to  supply  clothing  to  the  destitute,  and  to  provide 
medicines  for  the  sick  and  coffins  for  the  dead.  In  some 
cases  charitable  Chinese  gentlemen,  who  were  not  Chris- 
tians, seeing  the  benevolent  labors  of  missionaries,  have 
voluntarily  put  considerable  sums  of  money  into  their 


MORAL  ASPECT  OF  CHINESE  IMMIGRATION.  637 


hands,  to  be  used  in  connection  with  them.  At  Canton 
there  are  large  native  hospitals  for  aged  persons,  for 
lepers  and  for  foundling  children.  Within  a few  doors 
of  my  house  was  a warehouse  where  coffins  were  gratui- 
tously furnished  to  the  poor.  We  often  saw  bridges  or 
other  conveniences  erected  by  persons  of  fortune  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  public,  and  tea  given  gratuitously 
on  the  street  to  the  thirsty  coolies  and  laboring  men. 

This  summary  view  of  the  moral  aspect  of  the  Chinese 
immigration  to  this  country  suffices  to  show  of  what 
strange  and  diverse  elements  heathen  morality  is  com- 
posed. It  is  like  the  conglomerate  rock  in  which  frag- 
ments of  what  is  solid  and  beautiful  are  imbedded  in  a 
soft  and  worthless  mass,  from  which  they  easily  fall  out ; 
the  whole  of  which  crumbles  under  the  assaults  of  the 
winds  and  rains  and  is  unfit  for  the  walls  of  a house. 
It  is  hard  to  convey  to  a Christian  mind  the  idea  of  how 
so  much  knowledge  of  what  is  right  can  be  mixed  with 
so  much  uncertainty  and  perplexity  ; so  much  of  effort  to 
do  right  with  such  want  of  correct  principles  and  motives 
in  it;  so  much  of  beneficence  to  the  suffering  with  so 
much  of  selfishness ; such  a sense  of  the  evil  and  destruc- 
tive nature  of  sin  with  such  helplessness  in  resisting  its 
temptations ; such  flashes  of  light  to  show  the  narrow 
path  of  life  and  the  rewards  and  penalties  of  the  future 
world,  with  such  indifference  to  follow  their  guidance 
and  willful  turning  to  ways  of  their  own  choice.  It  is 
our  encouragement  to  know  that  in  this  mass  there  are 
elements  which,  when  pulverized  and  wet  and  moulded, 
and  subjected  to  the  power  of  fire,  will  come  out  in  forms 
which  will  be  valuable  and  enduring. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


THE  GLORY  OP  AMERICA. 

TT^OR  America  there  is  reserved  a peculiar  glory  iu  the 
history  of  mankind. 

We  seem  to  see  starting  from  the  fountain-head  of 
history  two  great  streams  of  civilization.  One  tends 
westward.  Its  course  is  marked  by  a succession  of  em- 
pires, each  arresting  its  flow  and  spreading  its  waters  out 
into  a wider  area,  yet  existing  but  for  a few  centuries. 
Such  were  Babylon,  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Persia,  Greece, 
Rome,  the  Arabs,  Venice,  Spain.  There  is  a distinct 
pirogress  through  a succession  of  forms  of  political  life, 
intellectual  culture,  advancement  of  the  arts  and  relig- 
ious experience.  At  last  it  is  barred  by  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic.  The  leading  purposes  of  the  great  Ruler 
of  nations  were  chiefly  accompdished  in  it  four  hundred 
years  ago. 

A second  stream  tends  eastward.  In  two  great  reser- 
voirs, in  the  South  and  in  the  East  of  the  continent,  it 
collects  its  waters.  Each  of  these,  China  and  India,  de- 
velops within  itself  a characteristic  and  vigorous,  but 
entirely  different,  style  of  life,  sentiment  and  religious 
worship.  Whatever  the  empires  of  the  West  have 
boasted  of  themselves,  no  one  of  them  has  equaled  in 
all  respects  either  of  these  two.  To-day  England  styles 

633 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


639 


India  one  of  her  colonies,  but  the  mistress  contains  forty- 
millions  of  people,  the  colony  a hundred  and  sixty. 
China  contains  four  hundred  millions.  And  with  the 
exception  of  the  advance  which  the  West  owes  to  the 
power  of  Christianity,  purifying  and  sweetening  all  the 
relations  of  man  to  man,  as  well  as  of  man  to  God,  and 
to  that  of  the  more  true  and  penetrating  scientific  ac- 
quaintance with  the  works  of  God  and  its  direct  practical 
fruits,  it  is  questionable  whether  European  society  has 
on  the  whole  excelled  that  of  China. 

The  world  four  centuries  ago  was  ready  for  the  final 
expansion  of  the  Divine  purpose.  The  navigators  Diaz 
and  De  Gama  open  the  way  to  India  and  China ; pre- 
cisely at  the  same  time  Christopher  Columbus  opens  that 
to  America.  Spain,  enticed  by  its  riches,  presses  forward 
to  occupy  this  immense  new  field  which  God  has  mani- 
festly prepared  in  harmony  with  his  designs.  She  per- 
forms her  allotted  part,  and  is  set  aside.  France  in  turn 
attempts,  in  vain,  to  occupy  a large  place  here.  Eng- 
land sends  tardily,  carrying  in  their  hands  an  open 
Bible  and  the  articles  of  political  and  religious  liberty, 
a handful  of  humble  believers  in  Christ.  Now  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  institutions  control  the  wThole  conti- 
nent. A homogeneous,  free,  mighty  republican  nation 
stands  prepared  for  whatsoever  work  the  Almighty, 
whom  she  spiritually  serves,  calls  upon  her  to  perform. 

The  past  few  years  have  witnessed  a mighty  accelera- 
tion of  the  great  end.  A series  of  events  more  strange 
than  any  romance  suddenly  compels  our  nation  to  colo- 
nize the  Pacific  shore,  enriches  her  with  unprecedented 
wealth  in  all  the  precious  metals,  exposes  the  vast  agri- 
cultural capacity  of  the  soil,  spans  with  railroads  and 


640 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


telegraphs  the  breadth  of  the  continent  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  and  connects  the  western  shore  with  China  by  reg- 
ular mail  steamships.  It  seems  like  a hurried  and  startling 
dream,  but  a dream  in  which  the  voice  of  God  is  heard. 

Let  us  look  at  what  the  almighty  Worker  is  doing 
at  the  same  time  on  the  opposite  Asiatic  shore.  The 
series  of  recent  events  there  is  as  full  of  meaning — the 
termination  of  the  East  India  Company’s  charter,  the 
Opium  War,  the  translation  and  circulation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  Tai-ping  rebellion,  the  second  war,  the  severe 
pressure  of  European  powers  on  every  border  and  coast, 
the  opening  of  the  whole  empire  to  commerce  and  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  the  Burlingame  embassy  to  the 
West,  and  the  steps  toward  the  acceptance  of  Western 
and  Christian  civilization. 

It  was  in  that  year  of  marvels,  1848,  when  the  thrones 
of  half  the  kings  of  Europe  were  successively  shaken  to 
the  foundation,  and  the  pope  of  Home  fled  from  his  seat 
in  the  disguise  of  a footman,  that  the  sovereign  Buler 
of  the  nations  unveiled  his  plan  upon  our  Pacific  coast. 
Unnoticed  at  the  moment  by  the  multitudes  who  were 
intently  gazing  upon  the  commotions  of  Europe,  he  com- 
menced there  a more  wonderful  work.  The  sudden  un- 
covering of  the  gold  of  California  was  the  means  by 
which  the  immigration  of  the  Chinese  was  to  be  turned 
to  this  New  World.  For  centuries  past  the  most  philo- 
sophic minds  have  predicted  the  vast  consequences  which 
should  ensue  when  the  two  opposite  currents  of  empire, 
going  the  one  eastward,  the  other  westward,  since  the  be- 
ginning of  time,  should  at  last  meet  and  flow  together. 
Upon  our  Pacific  coast  this  consummating  event  of  the 
history  of  the  world  has  now  commenced. 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


641 


Tlie  immediate  political  effects  must  he  very  great  both 
to  Europe  and  to  Asia.  Humboldt  said  a result  of  this 
nature  was  “ important  to  all  Europe.”  “ The  problem 
of  the  communication  between  the  two  seas  ...  is  of 
the  greatest  interest  for  the  balance  of  commerce  and 
the  political  preponderancy  of  nations.”  It  must  revolu- 
tionize the  character  of  the  governments  of  Asia.  The 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  a mere  “ neck  of  land,  the  barrier 
against  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  has  been  for 
many  ages  the  bulwark  of  the  independence  of  China 
and  Japan.”  He  says,  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  the 
free  communication  between  the  two  oceans,  “ Then  only 
can  any  great  change  be  effected  in  the  political  state  of 
Eastern  Asia.”  1 But  it  does  not  seem  to  be  necessary, 
because  caste-ridden  India  could  only  be  regenerated  by 
European  conquest,  that  the  same  should  be  the  case 
with  China  and  Japan.  We  may  rather  expect  that  the 
interests  of  both  America  and  Europe  will  be  better  sub- 
served and  the  renovation  of  those  empires  be  most 
peacefully  accomplished  by  the  maintenance  of  their 
independence  and  the  application  of  such  stimulus  as 
they  need  to  their  own  capacities  and  resources. 

It  is  the  appointed  office  of  America  to  be  the  ground 
in  which  the  best  benefits  of  European  institutions  shall 
be  planted  and  be  improved  and  indefinitely  multiply, 
but  which  the  toil,  the  experience  and  some  of  the 
peculiar  products  of  Asia  shall  assist  to  enrich  and  to 
beautify. 

The  religious  results  of  this  final  commingling  of  the 
opposite  courses  of  civilization  we  can  only  conceive  or 
describe  by  taking  the  language  of  inspiration.  That 

1 Political  Essays  on  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain,  book  i.,  chap.  ii. 

41 


642 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


plainly  reveals  the  prospect  of  a period  when  there  shall 
he  a great  coming  together  of  nations,  spiritually  all  be- 
lieve and  literally  most  scholars  also  concede,  which  shall 
cause  the  heavens  to  sing,  the  whole  earth  to  be  joyful 
and  the  mountains  to  break  forth  into  songs  of  gladness.1 
And  a large  share  of  this  rejoicing  of  the  worlds  above 
and  below  shall  be  because  “ these  shall  come  from  far ; 
and  lo,  these  from  the  north  and  the  west,  and  these 
from  the  land  of  Sinim,”  or  China,  the  last  and  largest 
and  stoutest  nation  among  all  that  have  resisted  the 
truth. 

The  office  of  the  continent  of  America  in  the  Divine 
plan  for  re-ennobling  humanity  and  planting  again  on 
earth  the  reign  of  holiness  and  innocence,  as  that  plan 
has  in  recent  ages  become  more  plain  to  us,  has  power- 
fully affected  many  of  the  greatest  minds  both  in  the  Old 
and  in  the  New  World.  Berkeley  was  one  of  whom  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  wrote : “ His  works  are,  beyond  dis- 
pute, the  finest  models  of  philosophical  style  since  Cicero. 
Perhaps  they  surpass  those  of  the  orator  in  the  wonder- 
ful art  by  which  the  fullest  light  is  thrown  on  the  most 
subtile  of  human  conceptions.”  Nor  was  he  liable  to  the 
charge  of  being  a mere  visionary  speculator  and  scholar. 
The  same  eminent  critic  says  of  a brief  tract  of  his  of  a 
political  character,  “ Perhaps  the  Querist  contains  more 
hints,  then  original,  still  unapplied  in  legislation  and 
political  economy,  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  equal 
space.”  2 His  whole  character  was  so  elevated  that  even 
the  cynical  Pope  ascribed  “to  Berkeley  every  virtue 

1 Isaiah,  chap.  xlix. 

3 Dissertation  on  the  Progress  of  Ethical  Philosophy,  sec.  vi.,  pp.  147-151.  The 
tract  is  contained  in  Berkeley’s  Works,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  237-280. 


TEE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


643 


under  heaven.”  1 The  conclusion  to  which  the  learning 
and  the  piety  of  this  extraordinary  man  brought  him  is 
embodied  in  his  famous  “Verses  on  the  Prospect  of 
Planting  Arts  and  Learning  in  America,” 2 of  which  the 
following  are  the  first  and  last  stanzas : 

“The  Muse,  disgusted  at  an  age  and  clime 
Barren  of  every  glorious  theme, 

In  distant  lands  now  waits  a better  time, 

Producing  subjects  worthy  fame. 

“ Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way : 

The  four  first  acts  already  past, 

A fifth  shall  dose  the  drama  with  the  day ; 

Time’s  noblest  offspring  is  the  last.” 

In  the  full  possession  of  these  ideas,  he  dedicated  his 
life  to  giving  them  practical  effect  so  far  as  lay  within 
his  power.  The  noble  critic  before  quoted  says:  “It 
was  when  thus  beloved  and  celebrated  that  he  conceived, 
at  the  age  of  forty-five,  the  design  of  devoting  his  life  to 
reclaim  and  convert  the  natives  of  North  America,  and 
he  employed  as  much  influence  and  solicitation  as  com- 
mon men  do  for  their  most  prized  objects  in  obtaining 
leave  to  resign  his  dignities  and  his  revenues,  to  quit  his 
accomplished  and  affectionate  friends  and  to  bury  him- 
self in  what  must  have  seemed  an  intellectual  desert. 
After  four  years’  residence  at  Newport,  in  Rhode  Island, 
he  was  compelled,  by  the  refusal  of  Government  to  fur- 
nish him  funds  for  his  college,  to  forego  his  work  of 
heroic,  or  rather  godlike,  benevolence.”  Berkeley  spe- 
cially determined  to  found  a college  which  would  grow 
to  be  a great  institution  and  be  a light  to  the  colonies 
from  Europe  and  to  the  aboriginal  races.  As  to  the 
former,  he  said : “ In  Europe,  the  Protestant  religion 

1 Epilogue  to  the  Satires,  Dial,  ii,  2 Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  294. 


644 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


hath  of  late  years  considerably  lost  ground,  and  America 
seems  the  likeliest  place  wherein  to  make  up  for  what 
has  been  lost  in  Europe,  provided  the  proper  methods 
are  taken.”  And  he  expected  great  results  from  the 
spread  of  knowledge  among  the  native  tribes.  He  said, 
“ Many,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  may  become  powerful  instru- 
ments for  converting  to  Christianity  and  civil  life  whole 
nations,  who  now  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death,  and  whose  cruel,  brutal  manners  are  a disgrace  to 
human  nature.”  In  truly  grand  and  powerful  language 
he  appeals  to  the  people  of  England  to  give  him  the 
means  which  he  needed  to  establish  and  endow  such  a 
college.  “A  benefaction  of  this  kind  seems  to  enlarge 
the  very  being  of  a man,  extending  it  to  distant  places 
and  to  future  times ; inasmuch  as  unseen  countries  and 
after  ages  may  feel  the  effects  of  his  bounty,  while  he 
himself  reaps  the  reward  in  the  blessed  society  of  all 
those  who,  ‘ having  turned  many  to  righteousness,  shine 
as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever/  ” 1 

He  pled  the  importance  of  the  conversion  of  America 
with  great  effect.  On  a certain  occasion,  in  London,  a 
number  of  witty  noblemen  and  scholars  laid  a plan  to 
turn  his  missionary  zeal  into  ridicule.  The  Christian 
philosopher,  having  patiently  listened  to  them,  “ begged 
to  be  heard  in  his  turn,  and  displayed  his  plan  with  such 
an  astonishing  and  animating  force  of  eloquence  and 
enthusiasm  that  they  were  struck  dumb,  and  after  some 
pause  rose  up  together,  with  earnestness  exclaiming,  ‘ Let 
us  set  out  with  him  immediately.’  ” 2 

1 Proposal  for  the  Better  Supplying  of  the  Churches  in  the  Foreign  Plantations, 
and  for  Converting  the  Savage  Americans ; Works,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  2S8-293. 

J Wakton  on  Pope,  quoted  by  Mackintosh. 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


645 


When  Berkeley’s  plan  of  a college  at  Newport  failed, 
lie  took  a very  warm  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  tke 
institution  already  planted  at  New  Haven,  and  on  his 
return  to  Great  Britain,  in  1732,  left  to  Yale  College  a 
tract  of  land,  with  his  dwelling-house,  to  found  three 
scholarships,  and  his  library,  which  President  Clapp  said 
was  “ the  finest  that  ever  came  together  at  one  time  to 
America.” 1 

In  the  New  World,  high  above  any  other  intellect 
which  it  has  produced,  stands  that  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 
Well  as  his  history  is  known  in  this  country,  I may  here 
recall  to  mind  his  interest  in  the  missionary  work  of  the 
Church  on  this  continent.  “ However  small  the  propa- 
gation of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen  here  in  America 
has  been  hitherto,  yet  I think  we  may  well  look  upon 
the  discovery  of  so  great  a part  of  the  world  as  America, 
and  bringing  the  gospel  into  it,  as  one  thing  by  which 
divine  Providence  is  preparing  the  way  for  the  future 
glorious  times  of  the  Church,  when  Satan’s  kingdom 
shall  be  overthrown,  not  only  throughout  the  Homan 
empire,  but  throughout  the  whole  habitable  globe,  on 
every  side  and  on  all  its  continents.” 2 

And  Edwards  was  no  less  sincere  than  Berkeley. 
This  man,  of  whom  Mackintosh  declares,  “ his  power  of 
subtile  argument  was  perhaps  unmatched,  certainly  un- 
surpassed among  men,”3  spent  six  years  in  his  prime, 
commencing  with  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  life,  as  a 
missionary  among  the  Housatonnuck  Indians  on  the 
mountainous  frontiers  of  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  in 

1 E.  Baldwin,  Anna/s  of  Yale  College,  pp.  45-48. 

2 History  of  the  ITo7-&  of  Redemption ; Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  469, 

3 Dissertation , etc.,  p.  129. 


646 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  intervals  of  the  humblest  missionary  labor  that  he 
wrote  his  masterpiece,  the  “ Inquiry  into  the  Freedom 
of  the  Will.”  From  this  employment  he  was  called  to 
be  president  of  Princeton  College.  Yet  so  great  was 
his  humility  that  he  earnestly  and  “ with  tears”  resisted 
the  pressure  of  the  trustees  and  his  friends  toward  that 
position. 

Could  the  leaders  of  public  sentiment  in  America  be 
led  to  climb  to  a point  from  which  they  could  form  some 
conception  of  the  grand,  comprehensive  views  of  an  Ed- 
wards or  a Berkeley,  to  share  some  of  their  boundless 
sympathy  with  all  human  kind,  as  fellow-creatures  of 
one  heavenly  Father,  as  possessors  of  the  same  imperish- 
able nature,  and  as  fellow-seekers  of  a rest  to  come,  far 
away  as  some  of  them,  bewildered  and  perishing,  have 
wandered  from  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ; and  also  to 
put  on  some  of  the  angelic  readiness  of  those  men  to  for- 
get self  and  to  seek  and  save  those  lost  members  of  our 
race, — then  how  easy  would  it  be  to  settle  all  the  ques- 
tions which  have  been  started  in  respect  to  the  coming 
here,  the  employment  and  the  relations  to  us  of  the 
Chinese. 

America  can  be  regarded,  by  those  who  look  at  its 
geographical  position  and  relations,  at  the  history  of  its 
populations,  at  its  discovery  and  colonization  by  Euro- 
peans, and  at  the  providential  management  of  the  con- 
cerns of  our  nation,  only  as  divinely  designed  to  be  a 
School  of  the  Nations. 

We  would  consider  now  specially  why  the  Chinese 
race  have  been  brought  here,  and  what  lessons  they  are 
to  learn. 

The  first  lessons  which  deeply  impress  the  thoughts 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


647 


of  these  strangers  are  those  connected  with  the  arts. 
Men  that  have  been  passengers  on  the  huge  junk  which 
drifted  helplessly  before  the  wrath  of  the  tempest  and 
was  in  continual  danger  in  difficult  places,  find  them- 
selves upon  a swift  and  magnificent  vessel  which  does 
not  need  a pair  of  big,  staring  eyes  on  the  bows  to  find 
her  way,  nor  charms  upon  the  rudder  to  enable  it  to  act ; 
they  learn  to  look  for  help  and  safety  not  to  a dumb 
wooden  idol,  but  to  a mighty  power  which  surpasses  all 
they  have  ever  imagined.  It  has  limbs  of  iron,  heart  of 
fire,  lungs  of  steam,  ravenous  appetite  and  thirst,  with 
the  strength  of  a thousand  horses,  and  yet  tractable  to 
the  touch  of  a man’s  finger.  What  a teacher  is  the 
steam-engine,  in  all  its  thousand  applications  in  this 
country,  to  the  strangers  whose  nation  never  till  recently 
possessed  one ! 

They  commence  work  upon  one  of  our  railroads.  In 
what  a domain  of  wonders  do  they  live ! The  thunder- 
ing locomotive  and  cars,  instead  of  the  train  of  weary 
coolies — the  sweep  of  the  road,  setting  at  defiance  all  the 
superstitions  as  to  winds  and  waters  and  hills — the  punc- 
tual and  daily  requisitions,  without  respect  to  stars,  or 
gods,  or  luck.  And  instead  of  the  miserable,  jagged, 
broken  copper  coin,  the  only  one  of  China,  the  mint 
lays  in  their  willing  hand  the  golden  eagle,  which  is 
worth  twelve  thousand  of  the  other,  and  represents,  in 
recompense  for  a few  days’  work,  as  much  as  they  would 
have  saved  in  a whole  season  among  their  kindred. 

They  had  lived  in  abject  terror  of  the  gods  of  light- 
ning, with  bodies  like  leopards  or  like  birds  of  prey ; 
now  they  learn  that  this  mysterious  power  is  seized  and 
compelled  to  carry  our  verbal  messages  of  business  or  of 


648 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


affection  thousands  of  miles,  in  an  instant  of  time,  over 
mountains,  rivers,  continents  and  oceans. 

Their  best  weapon  of  war  has  been  the  ancient  match- 
lock gun,  with  its  slow  fuse  of  nitrous  rope  and  uncertain 
results;  the  repeating  pistol  and  rifle,  the  bomb,  the 
iron-clad  monitor,  tell  them  the  necessity  of  new  means 
of  protection  and  warfare  for  their  nation. 

The  magic  finger  of  the  sewing-machine,  armed  with 
its  powerful  needle,  waiting  without  weariness  or  repin- 
ing to  perform,  regularly  and  beautifully,  the  work  of 
twenty  of  themselves,  speaks  to  the  minds  of  the  women. 

There  is  an  impressive  message  to  distant  friends  in 
every  photograph,  in  which  the  subtle  and  fleeting  sha- 
dow itself  is  caught  and  fastened  upon  the  paper,  and 
the  definite  and  expressive  features  of  the  countenance 
of  the  absent  one  are  represented  as  no  human  pencil  or 
graver  could  do  it. 

Thus  in  our  numerous  arts  there  are  lessons  taught  to 
wondering,  attentive,  reflecting  pupils  which  will  be  re- 
peated in  tens  of  thousands  of  little  centres  of  influence 
upon  another  continent. 

When  the  Chinese  have  become  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  our  language,  they  desire  to  go  to  our  schools,  to 
read  our  books  and  to  learn  something  of  our  sciences. 
What  a new  world  expands  before  their  mental  eye ! 
They  realize  now  why  it  was  they  had  seen  first  on  the 
ocean  the  tops  of  the  masts  of  an  approaching  ship — the 
world  is  round,  and  China  cannot  therefore  be  the  cen- 
tral country  of  it.  They  discover  that  each  planet  is 
also  a distant  world,  and  cannot  therefore  be  a palace  of 
a god  suspended  above  the  clouds.  They  ascertain  the 
laws  of  nature  which  they  had  imagined  to  be  the  opera- 


TEE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


649 


tions  of  dark  and  terrible  influences  connected  with 
spiritual  powers  which  must  be  propitiated  at  every  step. 
From  what  bondage  are  they  liberated!  How  different 
the  spirit  which  this  blest  tuition  breathes  into  their 
whole  nature ! The  men  who  are  thus  disenthralled 
form  a new  race.  They  are  a different  order  of  beings 
from  their  fathers.  The  fruits  of  modern  discoveries  are 
borne  in  a thousand  beneficent  applications  to  the  requi- 
sitions of  human  life.  Men’s  homes  become  more  com- 
fortable, their  cares  less  exhausting,  their  relationships 
more  happy,  their  pleasures  more  refined  and  more  con- 
nected with  the  mind.  Those  who  have  tasted  these 
fruits  can  nevermore  sit  down  content  under  the  shade 
of  the  antiquated  customs  of  their  native  villages.  They 
must  teach  in  turn  what  they  have  been  taught,  and 
kindle  lamps  which  shall  be  multiplied  and  shine  no 
man  can  tell  how  manifold  or  where. 

The  Chinese  learn  in  this  country  lessons  of  incalcu- 
lable importance  in  politics.  They  behold  the  amazing 
spectacle  of  an  emperor  chosen  each  fourth  year  and  the 
uttered  will  of  every  adult  subject  counted,  in  order  to 
decide  who  shall  sit  as  the  “ Son  of  heaven,”  the  chief 
executive  of  the  laws  affecting  the  life,  pursuits  and 
peace  of  men.  They  witness  the  expansion  of  their  own 
village  and  limited  republicanism  into  a colossal  and 
vigorous  national  form.  They  learn  principles  as  to 
equality,  freedom  and  the  rights  of  man;  as  to  the 
fundamental  importance  of  a general  and  elevated  sys- 
tem of  popular  education ; as  to  the  rock  of  moral  and 
revealed  truth  upon  which  sound  civil  law  must  be 
founded ; as  to  the  relation  of  a free  and  universally 
circulated  newspaper  literature  for  the  information  of 


650 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


the  common  people  upon  all  the  questions  which  affect 
their  interests,  and  many  others  which  will  most  surely 
be  borne  in  their  minds,  work  themselves  out  in  applica- 
tions to  society  after  their  return  to  China,  and  be  the 
beginning  of  a leaven  which  will  in  God’s  time  affect  • 
the  whole  lump  of  the  social  order  of  China  and  the 
nations  which  imitate  its  institutions. 

But  the  great  end  for  which  the  Former  of  the  world 
planned  and  built  this  continent,  introduced  its  suc- 
cessive tenants  to  the  occupancy  of  their  apartments,  or 
for  their  appointed  terms,  was  that  they  might  be  in- 
structed in  the  highest  of  all  knowledge,  that  of  his 
attributes,  claims  and  promises  of  grace.  This  divine 
knowledge  is  imparted  to  the  Chinese  by  various  methods. 
They  are  detached  from  the  myriad  superstitions  of  their 
native  homes  and  streets  and  streams  and  hills.  They 
behold  here  places  of  worship  in  which  there  are  no 
images,  no  symbols,  no  idolatrous  pomp  and  noise.  They 
are  informed  of  an  eternal,  almighty,  omnipresent  Cre- 
ator and  Judge.  The  expiatory  sufferings  of  Christ,  the 
simplicity  of  his  teaching  and  his  mercy  to  the  afflicted 
impress  their  minds  when  they  read  of  them  in  the 
Scriptures  or  hear  them  narrated.  They  feel  the  pow- 
erful influence  of  the  Sabbath  and  its  arrest  of  all  the 
ordinary  current  of  business  and  amusement;  some  of 
them  are  gathered  into  its  delightful,  precious  schools. 
They  are  distributed  into  families  wdiere  they  associate 
with  Christian  jmrents  and  with  children  who  win  their 
affection  and  talk  to  them  of  Jesus  and  heaven.  The 
first  effect  of  residence  in  this  country  is  to  loosen  the 
religious  sentiments  of  the  past.  In  this  process  some 
float  away  to  irreligion  and  immorality  and  are  lost. 


TEE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


651 


The  next  effect  is  that  of  the  collection  of  others  around 
the  rock  of  truth  and  their  salvation. 

The  initiatory  stages  of  this  moral  training  are  slow. 
The  conversions  of  individuals  are  but  the  drop  here  and 
there  of  the  shower  of  the  early  dawn.  But  they  will 
be  followed,  in  due  time,  amidst  the  great  revivals  of 
which  this  New  World  appears  to  be  the  appointed  field, 
by  simultaneous  multitudes — the  floods  of  “ the  rain  in 
the  time  of  the  latter  rain”  for  which  the  prophet  tells 
us  we  may  “ ask.” 

How  animating  is  the  spectacle  of  all  the  various 
agencies  by  which  the  great  Teacher  carries  on  the  edu- 
cation of  a race  which  he  has  inducted  into  this  School 
of  the  Nations ! How  potent  the  influence  of  its  mem- 
bers when  again  he  restores  them  to  their  native  con- 
tinent and  sets  them  to  scattering  to  vast  provinces, 
remote  colonies,  dependent  nations,  and  even  to  distant 
portions  of  the  continent  and  to  barbarous  islands,  the 
precious  seed  of  knowledge  with  which  here  their  bosom 
has  been  filled  ! 

From  the  elevation  which  embraces  in  the  sweep  of 
its  view  all  these  grand  outlines,  movements  and  tenden- 
cies of  human  history,  let  us  look  at  the  political  ques- 
tions which  have  been  started  with  regard  to  the  Chinese 
who  come  to  America.  Shall  they  be  allowed  to  immi- 
grate to  this  country  ? Shall  they  be  encouraged  to  bring 
their  families?  Shall  they  be  permitted  to  engage  in 
mechanical  occupations  ? Shall  they  be  admitted  to  tes- 
tify in  our  courts  against  white  persons  ? Shall  they  be 
granted  the  right  to  vote  in  our  elections  ? Shall  their 
children  have  a place  in  our  public  schools  ? 

There  is  a generic  principle  running  through  the 


652 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


whole  of  these  questions.  It  is  that  of  the  maintenance 
of  the  political  inequality  of  races  in  the  New  World. 
The  fruits  of  this  principle  are  these  efforts  to  expel,  to 
restrain,  to  trample  upon  and  to  degrade  the  Chinese 
who  have  chosen  to  immigrate  to  America.  There  are 
objections  to  their  immigration,  and  so  there  are  objec- 
tions, which  have  sometimes  risen  to  become  party  issues, 
to  the  immigration  of  some  classes  of  Europeans.  But 
it  has  been  wisely  ordered  that  the  great  principles 
which  shall  govern  the  treatment  of  all  who  choose  to 
make  this  continent  their  temporary  or  permanent  home 
have  become  firmly  established,  so  that  no  efforts  of  men 
can  now  move  them.  As  they  relate  to  the  questions 
under  consideration,  they  may  be  grouped  under  the 
following  heads: 

First.  The  grand  designs  of  Providence  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  this  nation,  some  of  which  have  been  sketched 
in  this  chapter. 

Second.  The  announcement  of  the  principles  upon 
which  our  government  was  founded.  The  Declaration 
of  our  Independence  stated:  “We  hold  these  truths  to 
be  self-evident — that  all  men  are  created  equal ; that 
they  were  endowed  by  the  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights ; that  among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness ; that,  to  secure  these  rights,  gov- 
ernments are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.”  These  com- 
prehensive words  seem  almost  an  inspiration  of  the 
omniscient  God,  penned,  as  they  were,  in  the  interest  of 
those  resisting  oppression,  to  anticipate  the  case  of 
nations  which  possess  the  same  self-evident  and  inalien- 
able rights,  but  whose  residence  on  this  soil  was  then 

O 7 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


653 


not  contemplated  and  who  might  become  the  subjects  of 
oppression  at  our  own  hands. 

Third.  The  principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  was  ordained  and  established  “to 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  promote 
the  general  welfare  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity  and  whose  latest  amend- 
ments have  secured  these  rights  and  blessings  to  men 
without  distinction  of  race  or  color. 

Fourth.  The  late  explicit  national  covenant1  that 
“ Chinese  subjects  visiting  or  residing  in  the  United 
States  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges,  immunities  and 
exemptions  in  respect  to  travel  or  residence  as  may  there 
be  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored 
nation” — which  follows  a provision  in  the  same  terms 
applicable  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  China. 

Fifth.  The  spirit  of  the  men  who  make  this  opposition. 
The  most  of  them  are  ignorant  foreigners,  at  first  actu- 
ated by  ignorance,  prejudice  and  selfishness,  but  now 
excited  and  led  by  their  priests,  and  by  demagogues,  in 
a spirit  of  opposition  to  humane  efforts  for  the  good  of 
the  Chinese  and  with  the  purpose  of  thus  obtaining 
greater  control  over  them  for  other  ends. 

Sixth.  The  ordinances  of  the  law  of  God,  “Ye  shall 
have  one  manner  of  law,  as  well  for  the  stranger  as  for 
one  of  your  country.” 2 This  principle  was  applied  to 
the  civil  law,  and,  in  case  of  the  adoption  of  the  Hebrew 
faith,  to  the  ecclesiastical  law. 

Seventh.  The  eternal  principles  of  right  which  the 
Governor  of  the  world  has  written  in  the  chambers  of 
the  human  heart  aod  made  deeper  and  more  authorita- 

1 Treaty  of  1868,  Art.  Yi.  2 Lev.  xxiv.  22  ; Num.  ix.  14. 


654 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


tive  than  any  statutes  of  human  appointment.  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  presents  their  nature  with  the  clearness 
of  the  light  of  the  sun  : 

“ The  Deity  has  constituted  an  eternal  and  immutable 
law,  which  is  obligatory  upon  all  mankind,  prior  to  any 
human  institution  whatever.  He  endowed  man  with 
rational  faculties,  by  the  help  of  which  to  discern  and 
pursue  such  things  as  were  consistent  with  his  duty  and 
interest,  and  invested  him  with  an  inviolable  right  to 
personal  liberty  and  personal  safety.  Natural  liberty  is 
a gift  of  the  beneficent  Creator  to  the  whole  human  race ; 
civil  liberty  is  only  natural  liberty  modified  and  secured 
by  the  sanctions  of  civil  society.  The  sacred  rights  of 
mankind  are  not  to  be  rummaged  for  among  old  parch- 
ments or  musty  records.  They  are  written,  as  with  a 
sunbeam,  in  the  whole  volume  of  human  nature,  by  the 
hand  of  Divinity  itself,  and  can  never  be  erased  or  ob- 
scured by  mortal  power.”  1 

Eighth.  The  stern  assurance  that  there  is  a supreme 
government  of  the  Ruler  of  nations  which  looks  simply 
at  the  great  principles  of  right  and  wrong  in  the  conduct 
of  nations,  takes  no  account  of  their  prejudices  and  ex- 
cuses, and  in  due  time  asserts  and  displays  to  the  uni- 
verse the  divine  justice  and  power  by  the  terrible  punish- 
ment of  oppressors  and  wrongdoers,  and  the  compensation 
of  those  who  have  suffered  from  them.  The  history  of 
African  slavery  and  the  judgments  it  brought  upon  us  is 
surely  a lesson  which  this  nation  should  never  forget. 
If  we  choose  to  inaugurate  a similar  course  of  wrong  in 
the  case  of  the  Asiatic  pupils  whom  God  has  sent  here 

to  be  taught  from  the  book  of  knowledge  which  he  has 

% 

1 Works , vol.  ii.,  pp.  43,  61,  80. 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA 


655 


put  for  the  purpose  in  our  hands,  then  we  and  our  chil- 
dren must  make  up  our  minds  to  receive  a similar  or 
even  a more  tremendous  retribution  than  that  which 
has  filled  the  land  with  blood,  with  ashes  and  with  tears. 

The  general  abstract  right  then  of  the  people  of  the 
continent  of  Asia  to  participate  in  the  benefits  which 
divine  Providence  has  previously  conferred  in  the  New 
World  upon  those  of  European  and  African  stock  is  as 
plain  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens.  The  Chinese  cannot  be 
refused  the  rights  which  every  other  race  save  the  bar- 
barous Indian  shares,  and  which  have  been  granted  to 
him  when  civilized.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  Chinese,  like  the  European  and  the 
African,  needs  a preparatory  discipline.  He  is  not  quali- 
fied for  immediate  advancement  to  the  higher  forms  of 
the  school. 

The  question  of  the  preparatory  qualifications  neces- 
sary for  citizenship  in  the  case  of  the  Chinese  is  one  of 
the  most  serious  that  has  come  before  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  The  continent  will  in  the  course  of  time 
be  occupied  by  millions  of  them.  They  are  naturally 
one  of  the  shrewdest  races  of  the  world.  Scarcely  any 
other  race  can  compare  with  them  in  capacity  for  organi- 
zation and  in  adroitness  in  political  management.  This 
is  manifest  in  their  astonishing  control  over  all  the  na- 
tions contiguous  to  them,  with  comparatively  little  resort 
to  force,  and  by  their  dexterity  in  undoing  by  strategy 
what  the  European  powers  forced  them  to  concede  at  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon.  Men  like  Mr.  Meadows,  who  are 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  them,  confess,  as  he  does, 
that  the  Chinese  possess  that  “power  of  combination  for 
common  purposes  which  distinguishes  the  Anglo-Saxons 


656 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EXPIRE. 


among  Western  nations.” 1 Sucli  a people,  holding  the 
balance  of  power  by  a compact  minority,  may  sway  the 
politics  of  a State,  may  decide  a presidential  election  or 
the  supremacy  of  a political  party  in  some  crisis  of  the 
nation.  jSTo  question  relating  to  the  African  race  is  a 
hundredth  part  so  important  as  that  which  fixes  the 
political  power  of  the  coming  Chinese. 

There  are  three  chief  elements  of  danger — their  pa- 
ganism, their  ignorance  of  our  language  and  laws  and 
simplest  education,  and  their  temporary  residence. 

Paganism  and  its  mass  of  superstitions  is  in  its  essence 
a denial  of  the  elementary  principles  of  that  great  and 
eternal  system  of  truth  on  which  the  political  systems  of 
all  the  countries  of  the  West  hitherto  represented  in  this 
republic  are  reared.  It  is  in  its  nature  subversive  of 
morality,  even  though  the  Chinese  have  maintained  a 
comparative  purity  of  morals  and  social  freedom,  because 
their  great  common  sense  led  them  to  resist  the  intro- 
duction from  abroad  of  many  of  its  worst  features. 
Christian  America  cannot  unsettle  the  foundations  of 
her  wondrous  history,  her  present  power,  her  future 
hopes.  “ Christianity  and  civilization,”  said  a most  able 
statesman,  “ have  labored  together ; it  seems,  indeed,  to 
be  a law  of  our  human  condition  that  they  can  live  and 
flourish  only  together.” 2 There  must  be  the  utmost  care 
taken,  in  the  case  of  this  unprecedented  and  unantici- 
pated infusion  of  materials  into  the  processes  of  a chem- 
istry which  has  hitherto  produced  the  most  beneficent 
results,  that  they  shall  not  precipitate  all  of  good,  and 
end  in  combustion,  explosion  and  ruin.  The  judiciary 

1 The  Chinese  and  their  Rebellions,  pp.  27,  114.  * 

! Daniel  Webster,  Speech  on  Greek  Revolution,  Works,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  74,  75. 


W rxruvujjrttvg  'sipjmfQ  Mmjotffynug  >9na\fQ  jo  -rrpitf  oosrauvij  unag 


k\ 

1 1 


f\ 


S? 

^1 


f 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


657 


of  this  country  will  abide  by  our  treaties  with  China  and 
will  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  recent  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  guarantee  to 
all  men  “ equal  protection  of  law,”  and  that  no  State  shall 
“ deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law,”  whatever  may  be  his  “race  or 
color.” 1 But  in  the  interpretation  and  execution  of  all 
treaties  and  laws  affecting  persons,  property,  forms  of 
oaths  and  education,  the  principle  of  the  civil  toleration 
of  moral  evil  should  be  most  carefully  discriminated 
from  the  sanction  of  it,  and  the  endurance  of  it  from  the 
maintenance  of  it. 

An  intelligent  acquaintance  with  our  institutions  and 
principles  should  be  made  imperative  where  application 
is  made  for  the  privilege  of  naturalization,  and  the  con- 
verse duty  is  obligatory  upon  us  of  affording  all  possible 
aid  in  the  way  of  schools  and  other  educational  advan- 
tages. And  the  warning  cannot  be  given  in  language 
too  strong,  that  if  these  claims  of  reason,  humanity  and 
patriotism  be  despised,  the  hereditary  jealousies  of  their 
native  districts  and  clans,  the  unavoidable  control  of  the 
masses  of  them  by  those  most  acquainted  with  our  laws 
and  customs,  the  tricks  of  our  politicians,  their  untaught 
passions  and  their  uncorrected  fears,  will  inflict  upon  us 
severe  and  not  unmerited  retribution. 

Few  of  the  American  people  and  far  fewer  of  the  Chi- 
nese went  to  the  Pacific  coast  with  a purpose  to  remain 
there.  They,  like  ourselves,  have  migrated  voluntarily, 
in  the  hope  of  speedy  fortune,  leaving  families,  mortgag- 
ing, it  may  be,  property  to  obtain  money  loaned  at  exces- 
sive rates  of  interest,  and  expecting  to  return  within  a 

1 So  Judge  Sawyer  decided  at  San  Francisco,  in  October,  1869. 

42 


658 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


few  years.  Not  one  in  every  ten  thousand  of  them 
thinks  near  so  much  of  us  as  we  think  of  ourselves. 
They  have  no  idea  that  the  American  eagle  is  so  grand 
in  his  aeronautic  displays  as  the  Chinese  dragon.  Their 
hearts  are  tenderly  fixed  upon  provision  for  aged  parents ; 
a peaceful  decline  for  themselves,  in  some  village  shaded 
by  the  orange,  the  bamboo  and  the  mulberry ; and  to  be 
laid  at  last  to  rest  by  the  graves  of  their  fathers.  Their 
residence  is  essentially  transient.  If  left  to  themselves, 
few  will  seek  naturalization.  And  since  our  laws  relating 
to  it  contemplate  strictness  as  to  the  abjuration  of  foreign 
allegiance,  evidence  of  fixed  purpose  to  make  this  new 
world  their  home,  and  the  security  of  the  asseveration 
of  one  or  two  citizens  to  that  effect,  peculiar  care  is 
justifiable  that,  with  reference  to  them,  the  evidence  of 
sincerity  be  sufficient.  Let  us  be  faithful  to  the  great 
principles  of  Christian  truth,  let  us  act  wisely  and  yet 
generously,  in  all  our  transactions  with  the  people  of 
China.  Upon  it  our  prosperity  and  peace  depend  more 
than  is  now  conceived. 

The  tenor  of  this  volume  must  have  made  it  plain  that 
the  beneficent  work  of  guiding  the  Chinese  people  in  the 
United  States  to  the  knowledge  of  Christian  truth  may 
be  directed  and  led  by  the  missionaries  who  are  set 
apart  by  boards  and  societies,  but  the  great  ingathering 
of  the  Chinese  into  the  Church  must  be  the  result  of  the 
efforts  of  Christians  brought  in  contact  with  them  in  the 
family,  the  farm,  the  shop,  the  factory,  the  mine,  the 
highway.  It  must  be  done  by  the  kindness  of  men  and 
women  and  children,  by  teaching  them  our  language  and 
knowledge  useful  to  them,  by  tender  and  prayerful  Sab- 
bath-school instruction,  by  the  distribution  of  Christian 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


659 


tracts  and  copies  of  the  gospels  with  patient  efforts  to 
acquaint  them  with  their  meaning,  by  interesting  them 
in  the  house  and  people  of  God,  by  exhibiting  to  them 
the  virtues  of  Christianity,  and  showing  them  that  Chris- 
tians are  just,  truthful,  honest,  charitable  and  merciful. 
A tree  which  brings  forth  fruit  so  sweet  and  good  they 
will  desire  to  possess,  to  cultivate  and  to  propagate. 

The  first  religious  body  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  Chi- 
nese in  California  was  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions.  The  writer  of  this  volume  went  in  1852  to 
San  Francisco  to  meet  the  thousands  of  those  people  then 
pouring  monthly  into  the  country,  some  of  whom  he  had 
known  in  the  course  of  his  previous  residence  in  China. 
His  labors  were  begun  among  their  sick,  of  whom  there 
were  great  numbers  on  account  of  their  crowded  con- 
dition during  their  long  passage  over  upon  the  old  and 
rotten  ships  which  were  engaged  in  transporting  them, 
and  the  bad  and  insufficient  food  given  to  them  on  ship- 
board. These  labors  were  continued,  while  he  remained 
there,  in  a dispensary,  with  the  assistance  of  some  med- 
ical friends.  Regular  preaching  in  their  own  language 
was  commenced  during  the  winter,  which  was  well 
attended.  A church  was  organized  November  6th, 
1853,  composed  of  several  men  who  had  been  members 
in  China.  This  was  the  first  Chinese  church  in  the  New 
World.  The  first  elder,  Mr.  Lai  Sam,  was  the  brother- 
in-law  of  the  well-known  Leung  A-fah,  so  often  men- 
tioned in  the  Life  of  Dr.  Robert  Morrison,  who  was  the 
first  native  Protestant  preacher  of  Christ  in  connection 
with  modern  missions  to  China.  The  next  step  was  the 
opening  of  a night-school,  with  which  was  often  con- 
nected lectures  on  astronomy,  geography,  chemistry  and 


660 


THE  OLDEST  AND  TEE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


other  sciences,  illustrated  by  proper  apparatus  or  a magic 
lantern.  The  American  population  was  addressed  at 
suitable  opportunities  in  sermons  and  courses  of  lectures 
in  San  Francisco  and  the  principal  towns  of  the  State, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  explain  the  character,  customs 
and  wants  of  the  Chinese,  to  remove  misapprehensions, 
and  to  enlist  Christians  of  every  name  and  benevolent 
persons  in  efforts  to  instruct  and  befriend  them.  An 
excellent  brick  building  was  erected  for  the  use  of  the 
mission,  furnished  with  chapel,  dispensary,  school-room 
and  a dwelling  for  the  family,  from  contributions  chiefly 
obtained  in  San  Francisco.  To  reach  both  Chinese 
and  Americans  throughout  the  State  and  outside  of 
it,  a newspaper  named  The  Oriental  was  commenced, 
and  published,  at  first  weekly,  afterward  monthly.  Mr. 
Lee  Kan,  who  had  received  a good  English  education  in 
China,  was  the  assistant  editor.  It  was  lithographed  in 
Chinese  on  the  one  side  and  printed  in  English  on  the 
other.  The  information  disseminated  in  this  sheet  was 
of  material  benefit  to  the  Chinese.  Twenty  thousand 
copies  of  it  were  distributed  the  first  year.  The  Chinese 
during  the  second  year  paid  for  the  lithographing  of 
their  side  by  contributions  from  the  companies.  The 
influence  of  this  paper,  of  pamphlets  addressed  to  the 
legislature  and  largely  circulated  over  the  State,  and  of 
other  agencies — to  which  many  of  the  most  influential 
gentlemen  of  the  State,  connected  with  various  depart- 
ments of  enterprise  which  were  benefitted  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Chinese,  and  many  intelligent  and  Christian 
people,  lent  their  aid — were  the  leading  means  by  which 
the  combination  of  powerful  enemies,  who  had  succeeded 
in  having  a law  passed  in  1854  designed  to  expel  the 


THE  GLORY  OF  AMERICA. 


661 


Chinese  from  the  mines  and  from  the  State,  or  to  de- 
grade them  to  a condition  of  peonage  or  slavery,  was 
defeated,  and  a repeal  of  the  law  triumphantly  carried 
during  the  next  session  of  the  legislature.  Five  years  of 
this  excessive  labor  brought  the  missionary  to  the  borders 
of  the  grave,  and  he  was  compelled  to  quit  the  field. 

In  1859  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Loomis,  formerly  of  NingjDO, 
China,  resumed  the  work  of  preaching  and  teaching  in 
the  Mission  House.  His  faithful  and  incessant  efforts 
for  the  good  of  the  Chinese  have  been  followed  with  suc- 
cess. Converts  from  time  to  time  have  been  added  to 
the  Church,  some  of  whom  have  been  men  of  most  sin- 
cere and  active  religious  character  and  very  useful  in 
Christian  labors  among  their  own  countrymen.  From 
this  centre  an  influence  has  been  exerted  over  thousands 
coming  and  going  through  the  port  of  San  Francisco  by 
tracts  and  other  means.  Frequent  contributions  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Loomis  in  American  periodicals  have  served 
to  enlist  a general  interest  in  the  missionary  work. 

The  Rev.  J.  L.  Shuck,  of  the  Baptist  church,  during 
several  years,  commencing  with  1854,  performed  a con- 
siderable amount  of  missionary  labor  among  the  Chinese 
at  Sacramento,  in  connection  with  his  pastorate  over  an 
American  congregation.  The  Rev.  E.  W.  Syle,  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  spent  usefully  in  the  same  cause  parts 
of  the  years  1855  and  1856,  in  San  Francisco.  Each  of 
these  gentlemen  had  previously  resided  in  China,  as  had 
also  the  Rev.  0.  Gibson,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  who  began  to  labor  in  San  Francisco  in  1868, 
and  promises  to  be  the  means  of  engaging  that  numerous 
body  of  Christians  in  effective  Sabbath-school  and  other 
instruction  of  the  Chinese. 


662 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Within  two  years  past  numerous  American  churches 
in  California  have  been  roused,  by  the  enlarged  com- 
munication with  China  and  immigration  of  the  Chinese, 
and  the  public  attention  to  them,  to  establish  efficient 
Sabbath  and  other  schools  for  their  benefit.  This  we 
may  hope  will  prepare  the  way  for  that  general  popular 
interest  in  them  as  individuals  which  must  be  the  chief 
hope  of  good  for  them. 

These  are  the  small  beginnings  of  the  effort  of  Ameri- 
can Christianity  to  perform  the  duty  assigned  to  it  by 
Providence  in  this  great  School  of  the  Nations.  The 
beginnings  of  this  movement  of  the  Chinese  race  are  in 
themselves  but  small.  But  wherever  the  members  of  it 
in  coming  days  shall  be  scattered,  among  the  Christian 
homes  or  fields  or  factories  of  all  our  country,  let  us  hope 
that  the  Divine  design  in  bringing  these  strangers  from 
far  will  be  kept  in  diligent  remembrance.-  Our  land  has 
been  chastened  by  affliction  to  prepare  it  for  a great 
work  for  the  good  of  mankind.  Let  us  not,  like  the  vain 
king  of  old,  display  our  precious  things,  our  silver  and 
gold  and  spices  and  armor,  and  forget  the  “ wonder  that 
was  done  in  the  land,”  to  inquire  of  which  was  the  chief 
end  for  which  the  ambassadors  of  a neighboring  power- 
ful empire  had  been  moved  to  come  to  him.  God,  who 
in  judgment  made  the  disappointed  pilgrims  to  be  the 
scourge  of  Israel,  will  visit  kindred  folly  and  sin  in  us 
with  some  kindred  penalty.  The  most  noble  and  im- 
perishable memorial  of  even  a Berkeley  or  an  Edwards 
is  the  love  which  leads  to  the  consecration  of  intellect, 
learning  and  influence  to  a species  of  work  which  is 
most  of  all  on  earth  like  what  was  assumed  by  the  incar- 
nate Son  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 

rjlHREE  empires  fill  the  vision  of  the  future — the 
United  States,  Russia  and  China.  Great  Britain 
alone  compares  with  them  in  the  extent  of  her  colonial 
possessions ; but  hers  are  remote  and  widely  scattered, 
and  will  when  ripe  as  to  the  Divine  purposes  fall  away 
from  her,  as  the  United  States  has  done,  and  become 
centres  of  independent  influences.  Each  of  the  three 
nations  named  has  vast  contiguous  colonies ; each  is 
wholly  in  the  northern  hemisphere ; and  each  is  ani- 
mated throughout  by  the  same  general  spirit,  and  pos- 
sesses a certain  unity  in  aims,  laws,  language,  social 
habits  and  religious  sentiments ; and  there  are  some 
peculiar  features  of  resemblance  and  mutual  interest  ex- 
isting between  them  all. 

The  rapid  and  mighty  growth  of  the  first  two  of  those 
nations,  and  the  prospect  of  the  development  of  the  long- 
treasured  resources  of  the  third,  have  deeply  moved  the 
prophetic  minds  of  the  latter  days.  They  were  pon- 
dered by  that  extraordinary  man,  born  in  a little  island 
of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  who  held  at  one  time  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  at  his  feet,  with  whom  we  can  compare 
no  other  as  to  the  energy  and  capaciousness  of  his  mind 
and  as  to  his  acquaintance  with  the  secrets  of  European 
power.  He  anticipated  confidently  the  time  when  the 

663 


664 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Russian  emperor  “ would  make  an  irruption  into  Europe 
at  the  head  of  some  hundred  thousand  of  those  bar- 
barians on  horseback  and  two  hundred  thousand  infantry, 
and  carry  everything  before  him when  Russia  would 
“ become  mistress  of  Constantinople,  get  all  the  commerce 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  become  a great  naval  power 
when  she  would  take  India  from  the  British,  and  when, 
through  the  influence  of  America  and  Russia,  all  Europe 
would  become  “ either  republican  or  Cossack.” 

Napoleon  looked  forward  also  to  the  future  power  of 
China.  He  foretold  the  influence  of  the  wars  which 
England  has  continued  to  make  upon  that  empire  as  an 
education  of  it  in  the  art  of  war  which  was  “madness” 
in  a European  government.  He  said  to  his  Irish  sur- 
geon : “ It  -would  be  the  worst  thing  you  have  done  for 
a number  of  years  to  go  to  war  with  an  immense  empire 
like  China  and  possessing  so  many  resources.  You 
would  doubtless  at  first  succeed,  take  what  vessels  they 
have  and  destroy  their  trade,  but  you  would  teach  them 
their  own  strength.  They  would  be  compelled  to  adopt 
measures  to  defend  themselves  against  you.  They  would 
consider,  and  say,  ‘ We  must  try  to  make  ourselves  equal 
to  this  nation.  Why  should  we  suffer  a people  so  far 
away  to  do  as  they  please  to  us  ? We  must  build  ships, 
we  must  put  guns  into  them,  we  must  render  ourselves 
equal  to  them.’  They  would  (continued  the  emperor) 
get  artificers  and  ship-builders  from  France  and  America, 
and  even  from  London ; they  would  build  a fleet,  and, 
in  the  course  of  time,  defeat  you.” 1 

An  American  statesman,  distinguished  above  others 
for  comprehensiveness  of  intellect,  said  with  regard  to 
1 B.  E.  O’Meara;  Voice  from  St.  Helena , ii.  55-70,  179;  i.  472,  etc. 


* •' 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 


665 


the  great  movement  which  is  now  bringing  China  and 
America  into  close  relations : “ Even  the  discovery  of 
this  continent  and  its  islands,  and  the  organization  of 
society  and  government  upon  them,  grand  and  important 
as  these  events  have  been,  were  but  conditional,  prelim- 
inary and  ancillary  to  the  more  sublime  result  now  in 
the  act  of  consummation — the  reunion  of  the  two  civili- 
zations, which,  parting  on  the  plains  of  Asia  four  thou- 
sand years  ago,  and  traveling  ever  afterward  in  opposite 
directions  around  the  world,  now  meet  again  on  the 
coasts  and  islands  of  the  Pacific  ocean.  Certainly  no 
mere  human  event  of  equal  dignity  and  importance  has 
ever  occurred  upon  the  earth.  It  will  be  followed  by 
the  equalization  of  the  condition  of  society  and  the  res- 
toration of  the  unity  of  the  human  family. 

“ Who  does  not  see  that  henceforth  every  year  Eu- 
ropean commerce,  European  politics,  European  thoughts 
and  European  activity,  although  actually  gaining  greater 
force,  and  European  connections,  although  actually  be- 
coming more  intimate,  will  nevertheless  ultimately  sink 
in  importance ; while  the  Pacific  ocean,  its  shores,  its 
islands,  and  the  vast  regions  beyond,  will  become  the 
chief  theatre  of  events  in  the  world’s  great  hereafter? 
Who  does  not  see  that  this  movement  must  effect  our  own 
complete  emancipation  from  what  remains  of  European 
influence  and  prejudice,  and  in  turn  develop  the  Ameri- 
can opinion  and  influence  which  shall  remould  con- 
stitutional laws  and  customs  in  the  land  that  is  first 
greeted  by  the  rising  sun  ? Although  I am  no  Socialist, 
no  dreamer  of  a suddenly-coming  millennium,  I never- 
theless cannot  reject  the  hope  that  peace  is  now  to 
have  her  sway,  and  that  as  war  has  hitherto  defaced  and 


666 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


saddened  the  Atlantic  world,  the  better  passions  of  man- 
kind will  soon  have  their  development  in  the  new  theatre 
of  human  activity.” 1 

The  past  twenty  years  have  developed  most  rapidly 
the  plans  of  the  Almighty  with  regard  to  the  great 
nations  which  skirt  the  Pacific.  We  can  now  look  for- 
ward more  clearly  than  Napoleon,  or  than  Mr.  Seward 
could  when  he  spoke  the  words  quoted,  to  their  probable 
future.  The  Asiatic  Russia  will  excel  in  time  the  Eu- 
ropean division  of  that  empire ; and  so  the  course  of  em- 
pire in  this  continent  will  westward  take  its  way,  until 
the  Pacific  shore  shall  bound  its  advance  and  the  civili- 
zation of  its  States  exceed  that  of  the  rest  of  the  con- 
tinent, like  that  of  the  western  shores  of  Europe  exceeds 
that  which  remains  upon  the  Black  sea  and  the  Adriatic. 
The  exuberant  forests  of  the  Amazon,  the  Orinoco  and 
the  Paraguay  shall  be  subdued,  and  that  magnificent 
southern  continent  imitate  the  arts  and  the  institutions 
of  the  northern.  The  islands  of  the  Pacific,  which  are 
now  rapidly  expanding  their  agricultural  and  commercial 
wealth,  will  be  covered  with  plantations  of  sugar,  coffee, 
cotton,  tea  and  rice,  and  their  ports  be  the  places  of  rest 
and  refreshment  for  fleets  whose  sails  shall  whiten  the  sur- 
face of  that  great  and  mild  ocean,  like  clouds  floating  in  a 
blue  sky,  or  like  doves  flying  through  it  to  their  windows. 

The  manifest  beginnings  of  this  change  are  seen  in 
some  of  these  fields.  Thus  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
where  two  generations  ago  Captain  James  Cook  found 
four  hundred  thousand  naked  cannibals  and  scarcely  a 
single  useful  production,  there  are  now  but  one-eighth  that 

1 William  H.  Seivard,  Speech  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  on  Com- 
inerce  in  the  Pacific  ocean,  July  29,  1852,  pp.  12,  13. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 


667 


number  of  natives,  and  they  are  rapidly  passing  away. 
But  they  have  obtained  all  that  is  most  valuable  in  our 
manufactures,  education  and  Christianity.  The  stores 
in  Honolulu  and  Lahaina  are  as  well  filled  and  hand- 
some as  those  of  an  American  town.  These  islands  ex- 
port now  yearly  a surplus  of  twenty  million  pounds  of 
sugar,  one  and  a third  million  of  rice,  one-third  of  a mil- 
lion of  coffee,  one-quarter  of  a million  of  wool,  a third 
of  a million  gallons  of  molasses  and  considerable  quanti- 
ties of  fine  sea-island  cotton,  hides,  goat-skins,  salt  beef, 
tallow,  pulu  (a  fine,  yellow,  cotton-like  substance,  which 
grows  upon  the  stalks  of  a species  of  fern,  that  is  suitable 
for  mattrasses),  whale  and  sperm  oil,  whalebone,  oranges, 
bananas  and  other  fruits,  various  vegetables  and  salt. 
They  raise,  in  addition,  wheat  and  other  grains,  figs  and 
other  delicious  fruits  and  numerous  domestic  animals. 
But  the  chief  dependence  of  these  products  and  exports 
is  based  upon  Chinese  labor.  This  was  first  introduced 
about  1854.  For  some  years  the  planters  and  laborers 
did  not  understand  each  other.  But  within  a few  years 
past  difficulties  and  misapprehensions  have  been  over- 
come. Chinese  labor  is  now  highly  prized.  And  some  of 
the  Chinese  have  cordially  embraced  Christianity ; one 
of  them,  named  A-heung,  has  been  licensed  to  preach  in 
Hawaian  and  Chinese,  and  is  esteemed  an  eloquent  and 
useful  minister.  The  office  of  the  Hawaian  race  is  ac- 
complished ; the  American  and  Chinese  will  henceforth 
occupy  its  place.  In  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  illustrated 
a course  of  things  which  will  be  repeated  successively  in 
time  all  over  the  numerous  island  groups  and  upon  the 
shores  and  in  the  interior  of  America  and  elsewhere  in 
the  world. 


668 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


This  contact  with  American  and  other  foreign  influ- 
ences is  designed  by  Providence  to  benefit  America  by 
the  supply  of  labor  which  is  the  prime  want  of  the  con- 
tinent ; and  He  will  regulate  its  coming  and  its  relations 
here  for  the  good  of  a nation  whom  he  has  so  peculiarly 
kept  and  favored  hitherto.  But  his  appointment  of  the 
design  of  this  School  of  the  Nations  will  be  ever  kept  in 
view.  China  will  be  educated  by  the  return  of  her 
emigrants,  but  she  will  need  our  direct  assistance  in  a 
thousand  ways.  She  needs  able,  liberal,  sincere  diplo- 
matists, like  him  whose  energetic  efforts  have  recently 
for  the  first  time  given  to  her  a respectable  position 
among  the  great  powers  of  the  West;1  translators  to 
transfer  the  treasures  of  our  sciences,  law  and  religion 
into  that  widely- used  language ; teachers  of  Western 
literature ; Christian  and  philanthropic  merchants ; in- 
telligent and  moral  artisans  and  engineers  to  make  the 
nation  acquainted  with  the  improvements  of  later  cen- 
turies ; botanists  and  geologists  to  explore  her  flora  and 
mineral  deposits  ;2  and,  above  all,  fervent,  well-educated, 
self-sacrificing  and  energetic  missionaries  of  the  gospel. 

1 The  recent  loss  of  Mr.  Burlingame  at  this  juncture  in  the  history  of  China  is 
one  which  the  whole  world  feels.  The  sealing  of  the  work,  which  he  was  in  the 
act  of  perfecting,  by  his  death  has  had  some  parallels  within  our  remembrance 
as  a nation  which  should  make  that  work  more  memorable  and  honored. 

1 The  two  works  of  Mr.  R.  Pumpelly,  entitled  Geological  Researches  in 
China,  Mongolia  and  Japan  and  Across  America  and  Asia,  are  valuable  con- 
tributions to  the  knowledge  of  the  countries  named.  The  spirit  of  them  is  most 
liberal  and  honorable.  Mr.  P.  says,  in  respect  to  his  more  extended  knowledge 
of  the  Chinese  nation,  “I  learned  to  free  myself  from  the  prejudices  which 
every  traveler  is  apt  to  contract  upon  the  coast,  and  during  my  subsequent 
travels  to  look  upon  the  people,  with  whom  I was  thrown  much  in  contact,  from 
an  entirely  different  standpoint.”  He  fully  sympathized  with  the  just  and 
“broad-minded  policy”  of  Mr.  Burlingame  and  Sir  Frederick  Bruce,  and  dated 
from  its  establishment  “a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Eastern  diplomacy.”-  — 
Across  America  and  Asia,  p.  269. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 


669 


As  Napoleon  prophesied,  the  events  of  the  last  thirty 
years  have  thoroughly  waked  the  Chinese  government 
to  the  necessity  of  fitting  itself  to  cope  with  the  powers 
of  the  West.  It  has  introduced  our  military  discipline 
among  the  Manchu  soldiers  and  has  established  four 
great  arsenals,  one  of  which,  at  Shanghai,1  employs  a 
thousand  men,  is  manufacturing  arms  and  has  built 
several  vessels  of  war  after  foreign  models.  The  first 
of  these  was  a side-wheel  steamer,  launched  in  1868, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  in  length,  carrying  six 
twenty-four-pounder  brass  naval  howitzers  and  three 
other  guns,  with  every  foreign  appliance  in  the  best  style. 
Some  larger  vessels  have  been  built  since  then.  Mr. 
Falls,  an  American,  is  the  superintendent  of  this  arsenal. 
The  government  has  sanctioned  the  opening  of  coal- 
mines for  the  supply  of  fuel  to  steamers.  It  has  granted 
the  right  of  inland  navigation  on  the  Yang-tsz-kiang 
river  to  an  American  and  Chinese  company,  which  last 
year  owned  six  fine  steamers  running  each  alternate  day 
to  Hankow,  and  six  others  sailing  regularly  to  Ningpo, 

1 The  good  fruits  of  our  Mission-school  at  San  Francisco  have  been  often 
brought  to  the  observation  of  the  writer.  One  of  the  leading  Chinese  officials, 
named  Lam  Tai-sam,  connected  with  this  arsenal,  was  a young  man  for  whom 
I obtained  a situation  in  the  machine-shops  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamer  Com- 
pany. He  built  in  California  a small  model  steamer,  which  worked  admirably, 
an  engine  for  other  purposes  and  a small  locomotive,  from  patterns  shown  him. 
This  he  attached  to  a little  car  and  ran  it  round  a little  track,  at  Sacramento 
and  elsewhere,  as  an  exhibition.  This  Chinese  locomotive  and  railroad  were,  I 
believe,  the  first  on  the  Pacific  coast ! This  enterprising  man  will  make  hi3 
mark  in  the  future  of  China. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  that  Mr.  Fung  Tang,  the  able  represent- 
ative of  the  Chinese  in-California  before  the  Congressional  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means  and  on  several  other  important  occasions,  took  occasion,  at  the  grand 
banquet  in  honor  of  the  inauguration  of  the  Pacific  Mail  line  across  the  Pacific, 
in  January,  1867,  to  express  in  a handsome  manner  his  indebtedness  some  ten 
years  previously  to  the  same  school. 


670 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


Chefoo  and  Tientsin.1  It  has  opened  its  coast  trade — • 
which  has  been  immensely  increased  on  account  of  the 
injuries  done  to  the  Grand  Canal  during  the  Tai-ping 
Rebellion — to  foreign  ships.  It  has  given  license  to  tele- 
graphic communication  between  its  seaports.  It  will  by 
degrees  introduce  railroads,  though  these  will  be  much 
interfered  with  by  the  superstitions  in  regard  to  the 
fung-shwui,  or  powers  of  nature,  fear  of  disturbing  the 
tombs  of  the  dead,  and  apprehensions  of  opium-smug- 
gling and  foreign  violence  and  crime.  It  has  established 
the  university  at  Peking  and  schools  at  Shanghai  and 
Fuh-chau  for  the  instruction  of  its  ablest  young  men  in 
Western  science.  It  has  encouraged  the  introduction 
of  the  divisible  and  fine  metal  type  and  of  printing  by 
machinery  from  our  missions.  And  several  of  its  lead- 
ing statesmen  have  publicly  declared  that  they  are  not 
afraid  of  Christianity  ; inasmuch  as  Buddhism  and  other 
idolatrous  sects  of  China  are  foreign,  and  they  see  no  rea- 
son why  the  doctrines  of  Christ  may  not  have  their  day. 

The  good  and  the  bad  influence  of  our  civilization  has 
already  been  powerfully  felt  in  every  portion  of  the 
empire.  Missionaries  and  travelers  say  that  whatever 
provinces  they  visit  they  find  opium,  foreign  goods, 
Christian  books  and  a surprising  general  acquaintance 
with  the  leading  ideas  of  Christianity;  the  latter  the 
result  of  the  vast  distribution  of  Christian  Scriptures  and 
tracts  from  the  missionary  stations  on  the  coast  and  by 
the  Tai-ping  rebels,  and  of  the  curiosity  as  to  the  doc- 
trines of  them  created  by  the  strange  events  of  recent 
years.  The  changes  of  the  generation  past  in  China  are 

1 There  are  about  fifty  other  steamers,  American,  British  and  French,  and 
four  tug-boats  running  to  and  from  ports  in  the  north  and  several  at  the  south. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHINESE  RACE. 


671 


amazing ; liow  much  more  so  will  be  those  of  the  next 
one,  and  of  each  successive  one,  as  the  tide  of  a new  social 
and  moral  life  shall  rapidly  rise  and  roll  over  the  land ! 

The  eye  of  implicit  confidence  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promises  of  God  stretches  forward  to  the  time  when 
China  shall  be  all  and  completely  Christian.  The  giant 
pagodas,  built  to  concentre  the  favorable  influences  of 
deified  Nature  upon  the  surrounding  gardens  and  vil- 
lages, no  longer  crown  the  lofty  hills.  The  innumerable 
altars,  beneath  every  green  tree  and  at  every  crossing  or 
division  of  the  ways,  and  at  every  gate  and  corner  and 
open  place  among  the  habitations  of  man,  no  longer 
reveal  the  delusion  of  souls  by  the  prince  of  evil.  The 
flags,  fluttering  with  symbols  and  inscriptions,  the  carved 
pillars,  the  glaring  inscriptions  about  the  front  doors 
and  entrances  of  the  streets,  the  processions  of  bald  and 
long-robed  priests,  the  white  smoke  of  incense  from 
every  house,  the  massive  temples  crowded  with  gilt  and 
painted  idols,  the  monasteries  and  nunneries  embowered 
in  groves  even  in  the  heart  of  populous  cities,  the  the- 
atres, the  dens  of  crime,  the  smuggling  and  piratical 
boats,  the  cruel  filthy  prisons,  are  for  ever  cleansed  away. 
The  din  of  gongs,  the  scream  of  wind  instruments,  the 
roar  of  gunpowder  in  crackers,  guns  and  cannon,  the 
clamor  of  the  intoxicated  crowds  of  worshipers,  all  the 
discordant  and  painful  noises  of  idolatry  and  superstition 
and  folly  and  vice,  are  silent.  The  Holy  Spirit  has 
breathed  over  the  scene  of  moral  corruption,  and  of  the 
debasement  by  the  powers  of  hell  of  what  is  most  holy 
and  wise  and  heavenly  among  men.  Life  has  taken 
the  place  of  death ; light  prevails  instead  of  darkness. 

Lift  up  your  eyes ! . See  the  white  spires  of  Christian 


672 


THE  OLDEST  AND  THE  NEWEST  EMPIRE. 


churches  and  schools  rise  from  those  cities  and  towns. 
See  the  Sabbath  spell  stop  the  furnaces  of  factories  and 
mills,  which  during  the  week  enrich  the  inhabitants  with 
all  the  products  of  Christian  civilization,  but  now  release 
their  weary  toilers  to  enjoy  a holy  rest  and  to  throng 
with  their  swarthy  faces  the  ways  that  lead  to  the  houses 
of  God.  Yonder  lie  steamers  waiting  at  the  wharves  for 
liberty  on  the  morrow,  panting  to  bear  their  vast  and 
varied  freight  from  city  to  city  where  they  thickly 
border  the  mighty  rivers.  The  iron  railways,  the 
telegraphic  wires,  stretch  from  valley  to  valley.  You 
survey  the  same  loveliness,  the  same  peace,  the  same 
prosperity,  which  charm  and  satisfy  the  mind  and  the 
heart  in  a summer  landscape  of  favored  America  or 
Britain.  How  complete,  how  wonderful,  how  delightful 
the  transformation  ! Simply  the  faithful  and  unwearied 
preaching  of  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has 
done  it  all.  Men  believed  in  him  as  the  only  Lord  and 
Saviour;  they  cast  away  their  idols;  the  blessings  of 
modern  Christian  civilization  all  followed  in  their  turn. 
It  began  feebly  and  slowly  but  progressed  with  ever 
multiplying  rapidity  and  volume.  And  these  changes 
which  a few  years  have  wrought  in  one  nation  are  but  a 
part  of  universal  transformations,  such  as  it  were  idle  to 
attempt  to  conceive  or  to  picture,  which  shall  extend  to 
all  the  race  of  man,  and  make  this  whole  earth  seem 
like  a new  earth,  and  these  heavens  above  us  like  new 
heavens.  Then  shall  Jesus’  kingdom  be  come;  then 
shall  his  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 


THE  SPEECH 


OF  THE  HON.  ANSON  BURLINGAME,  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  CHINESE 
EMBASSY  TO  THE  WESTERN  POWERS,  DELIVERED  IN  NEW  YORK, 
JUNE  23,  1808. 

Mr.  President,  and  Citizens  of  New  York: — Our  first 
duty  is  to  thank  you  for  this  cordial  greeting ; to  say  to  you 
that  it  is  not  only  appreciated  by  us,  but  that  it  will  be  appre- 
ciated by  the  distant  people  whom  we  represent ; to  thank  you 
for  this  unanimous  expression  of  good-will  on  the  part  of  the 
great  city  of  New  York;  to  thank  you  that,  rising  above  all 
local  and  party  considerations,  you  have  given  a broad  and  gen- 
erous welcome  to  a movement  made  in  the  interests  of  all  man- 
kind. We  are  but  the  humble  heralds  of  this  movement.  It 
originated  beyond  the  boundaries  of  our  own  thoughts,  and  has 
taken  dimensions  beyond  the  reach  of  our  most  ardent  hopes. 
That  East  which  men  have  sought  since  the  days  of  Alexander 
now  itself  seeks  the  West.  China,  emerging  from  the  mists  of 
time,  but  yesterday  suddenly  entered  your  Western  gates,  and 
confronts  you,  by  its  representatives,  here  to-night.  What  have 
you  to  say  to  her  ? She  comes  with  no  menace  on  her  lips. 
She  comes  with  the  great  doctrine  of  Confucius,  uttered  two 
thousand  three  hundred  years  ago,  “ Do  not  unto  others  what 
you  would  not  have  others  do  unto  you.”  Will  you  not  respond 
with  the  more  positive  doctrine  of  Christianity — “We  will  do 
unto  others  what  we  would  have  others  do  unto  us  ?”  She 
comes  with  your  international  law.  She  tells  you  that  she  is 
willing  to  come  into  relations  according  to  it ; that  she  is  will- 
ing to  abide  by  its  provisions ; that  she  is  willing  to  take  its 
obligations  for  its  privileges.  She  asks  you  to  forget  your  an- 
cient prejudices,  to  abandon  your  assumptions  of  superiority,  to 
submit  your  questions  with  her  as  she  proposes  to  submit  her 


674 


THE  SPEECH  OF 


qu'estions  with  you — to  the  arbitrament  of  reason.  She  wishes 
no  war ; she  asks  of  you  not  to  interfere  in  her  internal  affairs ; 
she  asks  you  not  to  send  lecturers  who  are  incompetent  men  ; 
she  asks  that  you  will  respect  the  neutrality  of  her  waters  and 
the  integrity  of  her  territory ; she  asks,  in  a word,  to  be  left 
perfectly  free  to  unfold  herself  precisely  in  that  form  of  civili- 
zation of  which  she  is  the  most  capable  to  judge.  She  asks  you 
to  give  to  those  treaties  which  were  made  under  the  pressure  of 
war  a generous  and  Christian  construction.  Because  you  have 
done  this,  because  the  Western  nations  have  reversed  their  old 
doctrine  of  force,  she  responds ; and  in  proportion  as  you  have 
done  that,  in  proportion  as  you  have  expressed  }'our  good-will, 
she  has  come  forth  to  meet  you.  And  I aver  that  there  is  no 
spot  on  this  earth  where  there  has  been  greater  progress  made 
within  the  past  few  years  than  in  the  empire  of  China.  She  has 
extended  her  business  and  reformed  her  revenue  system.  She 
is  changing  her  military  and  naval  organizations,  and  is  estab- 
lishing a great  school,  where  modern  science  and  the  foreign 
languages  are  to  be  taught.  She  has  done  this  under  very  ad- 
verse circumstances.  She  has  done  this  after  a great  war,  last- 
ing through  thirteen  years — a war  out  of  which  she  comes  with 
no  national  debt.  You  must  remember  how  dense  is  her  popu- 
lation, and  how  difficult  it  is  to  introduce  radical  changes  in 
such  a country  as  that.  The  introduction  of  your  own  steamers 
threw  out  of  employment  one  hundred  thousand  junkmen,  and 
the  introduction  of  several  hundred  foreigners  into  her  civil 
service  embittered,  of  course,  the  ancient  native  employes.  The 
establishment  of  a school  was  firmly  resisted  by  a party  led  by 
one  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  empire.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this, 
the  present  government  of  China  has  advanced  steadily  along 
the  path  of  progress,  sustained,  it  is  true,  b}7  the  enlightened 
European  and  Western  Powers  now  at  Pekin,  and  guided 
largely  by  a modest  and  able  man — Mr.  Hart,  the  Inspector- 
General  of  Customs,  at  the  head  of  the  foreign  employes  of 
China.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  manifest  progress,  there  are 
people  who  will  tell  you  that  China  has  made  no  progress;  that 
her  views  are  retrograde  ; and  they  tell  you  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Western  Treaty  Powers  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of 


HON.  ANSON  BURLINGAME. 


675 


coercing  China  into  reforms  which  they  may  desire,  and  which 
she  may  not  desire,  to  undertake  to  say  that  these  people  have 
no  rights  which  -we  are  bound  to  respect.  In  their  coarse  lan- 
guage they  say,  “Take  her  by  the  throat,”  using  the  tyrant’s 
plea.  They  say  that  they  know  better  what  China  wants  than 
China  herself  does.  Hot  only  do  they  desire  to  introduce  new 
reforms  born  of  their  own  interests  and  their  own  caprice,  but 
they  tell  you  that  the  present  dynasty  must  fall,  and  that  the 
whole  structure  of  Chinese  civilization  must  be  overthrown.  I 
know  that  these  views  are  abhorred  by  the  governments  and 
countries  from  which  they  come,  but  they  are  far  away  from 
their  countries.  They  are  active,  brave,  and  unscrupulous,  and, 
if  they  happen  to  be  officials,  it  is  in  their  power  to  complicate 
affairs,  and  to  involve  ultimately  their  distant  countries  in  war. 
How  it  is  against  the  malign  spirit  of  this  tyrannical  element 
that  this  mission  was  sent  forth  to  the  Christian  world.  It  was 
sent  forth  that  China  might  have  her  difficulties  stated.  That  I 
happen  to  be  at  the  head  of  it  is,  perhaps,  more  an  accident 
than  any  design.  It  is  perhaps  because  I had  been  longer  there 
than  my  colleagues.  It  was  because  I was  about  to  leave  it.  It 
was  because,  also — and  probably  more  than  all — because  my 
humble  name  wras  associated  with  the  establishment  of  the  co- 
operative policy  which,  cooperating  with  abler  men  than  myself, 
was  established  not  many  years  ago.  It  is  to  sustain  that  policy 
— which  has  received  the  warm  approval  of  all  the  great  Treaty 
Powers,  and  which  is  cherished  by  China — that  we  are  sent 
forth ; and  it  is  in  behalf  of  that  generous  policy,  founded  upon 
principles  of  eternal  justice,  that  I would  rally  the  strongest 
thing  on  this  earth — the  enlightened  public  opinion  of  the 
world.  Missions  and  men  may  pass  away,  but  the  principles  of 
eternal  justice  will  stand.  I desire  that  the  autonomy  of  China 
may  be  preserved  ; that  her  independence  may  be  maintained ; 
that  she  may  have  equality,  and  that  she  may  dispense  equal 
privileges  to  all  the  nations.  If  the  opposite  school  is  to  pre- 
vail, if  you  are  to  use  coercion  against  that  great  people,  then 
who  is  to  exercise  the  coercion  ? Whose  forces  are  you  to  use  ? 
Whose  views  are  you  to  establish  ? You  see,  the  very  attempt 
to  carry  out  any  such  tyrannical  policy  would  involve  not  only 


676 


THE  SPEECH  OF 


China,  but  would  involve  you  in  bloody  wars  with  each  other. 
There  are  men  of  that  tyrannical  school  who  say  that  China  is 
not  fit  to  sit  at  the  council-board  of  the  nations,  who  call  them 
barbarians,  who  attack  them  on  all  occasions  with  a bitter  and 
unrelenting  spirit.  These  things  I utterly  deny.  I say,  on  the 
contrary,  that  that  is  a great  and  noble  people.  It  has  all  the 
elements  of  a splendid  nationality.  It  has  the  most  numerous 
people  on  the  face  of  the  globe ; it  is  the  most  homogeneous 
people  in  the  world ; its  language  is  spoken  by  more  human 
beings  than  any  other  in  the  world,  and  it  is  written  in  the  rock ; 
it  is  a country  where  there  is  a greater  unification  of  thought 
than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world ; it  is  a country  where 
the  maxims  of  the  great  sages,  coming  down  memorized,  have 
permeated  the  whole  people  until  their  knowledge  is  rather  an 
instinct  than  an  acquirement.  It-is  a people  loyal  while  living, 
and  whose  last  prayer  when  dying  is  to  sleep  in  the  sacred  soil 
of  their  fathers.  It  is  a land  of  scholars  and  of  schools — a land 
of  books,  from  the  smallest  pamphlet  up  to  voluminous  ency- 
clopedias. It  is  a land,  sir,  as  you  have  said,  where  the  privi- 
leges are  common ; it  is  a land  without  caste,  for  they  destroyed 
their  feudal  system  two  thousand  one  hundred  years  ago,  and 
they  built  up  their  great  structure  of  civilization  on  the  great 
idea  that  the  people  are  the  source  of  power.  That  idea  was 
uttered  by  Mencius  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  it 
was  old  when  he  uttered  it.  The  power  flows  forth  from  that 
people  into  practical  government  through  the  cooperative  s}rs- 
tem,  and  they  make  scholarship  a test  of  merit.  I say  it  is  a 
great,  a polite,  a patient,  a sober,  and  an  industrious  people ; 
and  it  is  such  a people  as  this  that  the  bitter  boor  would  exclude 
from  the  council-hall  of  the  nations.  It  is  such  a nation  as  this 
that  the  tyrannical  element  would  put  under  its  ban.  They  say 
that  all  these  people  (a  third  of  the  human  race)  must  become 
the  weak  wards  of  the  "West;  wards  of  nations  not  so  populous 
as  many  of  their  provinces ; wards  of  people  who  are  younger 
than  their  newest  village  in  Manchuria.  I do  not  mean  to  say 
that  the  Chinese  are  perfect ; far  from  it.  They  have  their  faults, 
their  pride,  and  their  prejudices,  like  other  people.  These  are 
profound,  and  they  must  be  overcome.  They  have  their  con- 


HON.  ANSON  BURLINGAME. 


677 


ceits,  like  other  people,  and  they  must  be  done  away ; but  they 
are  not  to  be  removed  by  talking  to  them  with  cannon,  by  tell- 
ing them  that  they  are  feeble  and  weak,  and  that  they  are  bar- 
barians. No  ; China  has  been  cut  off  by  her  position  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  She  has  been  separated  from  it  by  limitless 
deserts  and  broad  oceans.  But  now,  when  the  views  of  men 
expand,  we  behold  the  very  globe  itself  diminishing  in  size; 
now,  when  science  has  dissipated  the  desert,  and  when  it  has  nar- 
rowed the  ocean,  we  find  that  China,  seeing  another  civilization 
on  every  side,  has  her  eyes  wide  open  to  the  situation.  She  sees 
Russia  on  the  north,  Europe  on  the  west,  and  America  on  the 
east ; she  sees  a cloud  of  sail  on  her  coast ; she  sees  mighty 
steamers  coming  from  every  quarter ; she  feels  the  spark  from 
the  electric  telegraph  falling  hot  upon  her,  and  she  rouses  her- 
self, not  in  anger,  but  for  argument.  She  finds  that  by  not  being 
in  a position  to  compete  with  other  nations  for  so  long  a time, 
she  has  lost  ground ; she  comprehends  very  well  that  she  must 
come  into  relations  with  those  civilizations  which  are  pressing 
all  around  her ; and  feeling  that,  she  does  not  wait,  but  comes 
out  to  you,  and  extends  to  you  her  hand.  She  tells  you  she  is 
ready  to  take  upon  her  ancient  civilization  the  graft  of  your  civ- 
ilization; that  she  is  ready  to  take  back  her  own  inventions, 
with  all  their  developments  ; that  she  is  willing  to  trade  with 
you,  to  buy  of  you,  to  sell  to  you,  to  help  you  strike  off  the 
shackles  from  trade.  She  invites  your  merchants,  she  invites 
your  missionaries,  and  tells  them  to  plant  the  shining  cross  on 
every  hill  and  in  every  valley,  for  she  is  hospitable  to  fair  argu- 
ment. She  offers  you  almost  free  trade  to-day.  Holding  the 
great  staples  of  the  earth,  tea  and  silk,  she  charges  you  scarcely 
any  tariff  on  the  exports  you  send  out  to  exchange  for  them. 
She  is  willing  to  meet  the  interior  questions  which  are  arising 
now  as  to  transit  dues;  and  if  you  will  only  have  patience  with 
her  and  right  reason  on  your  side,  she  will  settle  these  to  your 
satisfaction.  The  country  is  open ; you  may  travel  and  trade 
where  you  like.  What  complaint  have  you  to  make  of  her  ? 
Show  her,  I say,  fair  play ; exhibit  that  to  her,  and  you  will 
bless  the  toiling  millions  of  the  world.  That  trade,  which  has 
in  my  own  day  in  China  risen  from  eighty-two  millions  to  three 


678 


THE  SPEECH  OF,  ETC. 


hundred  millions,  is  but  a tithe  of  the  enormous  trade  that  may 
be  carried  on  with  China  in  the  future.  Let  her  alone,  give  her 
her  independence ; let  her  develop  herself  in  her  own  time  and 
in  her  own  way.  She  has  no  hostility  to  you.  Let  her  do  this, 
and  she  will  initiate  a movement  which  will  be  felt  in  every 
workshop  in  the  civilized  world.  She  says  now,  “Send  us  your 
wheat,  lumber,  gold,  silver,  goods  from  everywhere.  We  will 
take  as  many  of  them  as  we  can;  we  will  give  you  back  our 
tea,  silk,  and  free  labor,  which  we  have  sent  so  largely  out  into 
the  world,  which  is  overflowing  upon  Siam,  the  British  posses- 
sions, Singapore,  Manilla,  Peru,  Cuba,  Australia,  and  California. 
What  she  asks  is,  that  you  will  be  as  kind  to  her  people  as  she 
is  to  yours.  She  wishes  simply  that  you  will  do  justice.  She 
is  willing  not  only  to  exchange  goods  with  you,  but  to  exchange 
thoughts ; she  is  willing  to  give  you  her  intellectual  civilization 
for  your  material  civilization.  Let  her  alone,  and  the  caravans 
toward  the  North  and  Russia  will  swarm  larger  than  they  are 
now.  Let  her  alone,  and  the  great  steamers  of  the  “Peninsular 
and  Oriental  Co.”  and  the  “Messagerie  Imperiale”  may  multiply 
their  coming ; let  her  alone,  and  that  great  line  which  is  the 
pride  of  New  York — the  Pacific  Mail — may  increase,  or  as  many 
other  lines  as  you  choose  to  form,  may  increase  their  tonnage 
tenfold,  and  they  will  still  have  to  leave  their  freight  uncarried, 
as  at  present,  on  the  wharf  at  Hong-kong  and  Yokohama.  The 
imagination  kindles  at  the  future  which  may  be,  and  will  be,  if 
you  will  be  just  and  fair  to  China. 


THE  LATE  TREATY  WITH  CHINA. 


679 


THE  LATE  TREATY  WITH  CHINA,  SUPPLEMENTARY  TO  THE 
TREATY  OF  1858. 

Art.  1.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China,  being  of  the  opin- 
ion that  in  making  concessions  to  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  for- 
eign powers  of  the  privilege  of  residing  on  certain  tracts  of  land, 
or  resorting  to  certain  waters  of  that  empire  for  the  purposes  of 
trade,  he  has  by  no  means  relinquished  his  right  of  eminent  do- 
main or  dominion  over  the  said  land  and  waters,  hereby  agrees 
that  no  such  concession  or  grant  shall  be  construed  to  give  to 
any  power  or  party  which  may  be  at  war  with  or  hostile  to  the 
United  States,  the  right  to  attack  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
or  their  property  within  the  said  lands  or  waters ; and  the  Uni- 
ted States,  for  themselves,  hereby  agree  to  abstain  from  offen- 
sively attacking  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  power,  or  party, 
or  their  party,  with  which  they  may  be  at  war,  on  any  such 
tract  of  land  or  waters  of  the  said  empire ; but  nothing  in  this 
article  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the  United  States  from  re- 
sisting an  attack  by  any  hostile  power  or  party  upon  their  citi- 
zens or  their  property.  It  is  further  agreed,  that  if  any  right  or 
interest  in  any  tract  of  land  in  China  has  been  or  shall  hereafter 
be  granted  by  the  Government  of  China  to  the  United  States  or 
their  citizens  for  purposes  of  trade  or  commerce,  that  grant  shall 
in  no  event  be  construed  to  divest  the  Chinese  authorities  of 
their  right  of  j urisdiction  over  persons  and  property  within  said 
tract  of  land,  except  so  far  as  that  right  may  have  been  ex- 
pressly relinquished  by  treaty. 

Art.  2.  The  United  States  of  America  and  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  of  China,  believing  that  the  safety  and  prosperity  of 
commerce  will  thereby  best  be  promoted,  agree  that  any  privi- 
lege or  immunity  in  respect  to  trade  or  navigation  within  the 
Chinese  dominions  which  may  not  have  been  stipulated  for  by 
treaty  shall  be  subject  to  the  discretion  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment, and  may  be  regulated  by  it  accordingly,  but  not  in  a 
manner  or  spirit  incompatible  writh  the  treaty  stipulations  of  the 
parties. 

Art.  3.  The  Emperor  of  China  shall  have  the  right  to  appoint 


680 


THE  LATE  TREATY  WITH  CHINA. 


consuls  at  ports  of  the  United  States,  who  shall  enjoy  the  same 
privileges  and  immunities  as  those  which  are  enjoyed  by  public 
law  and  treaty  in  the  United  States  by  the  consuls  of  Great 
Britain  and  Russia,  or  either  of  them. 

Art.  4.  The  twenty-ni  nth  article  of  the  treaty  of  the  18th  of 
June,  1858,  having  stipulated  for  the  exemption  of  Christian 
citizens  of  the  United  States  and  Chinese  converts  from  perse- 
cution in  China  on  account  of  their  faith,  it  is  further  agreed, 
that  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  China  of  every  religious 
persuasion,  and  Chinese  subjects  in  the  United  States,  shall  en- 
joy entire  liberty  of  conscience,  and  shall  be  exempt  from  all 
disability  or  persecution  on  account  of  their  religious  faith  or 
worship  in  either  country.  Cemeteries  for  sepulture  of  the  dead 
of  whatever  nativity  or  nationality  shall  be  held  in  respect,  and 
free  from  disturbance  or  profanation. 

Art.  5.  The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Emperor  of 
China  cordially  recognize  the  inherent  and  inalienable  right  of 
man  to  change  his  home  and  his  allegiance,  and  also  the  mutual 
advantages  of  the  free  migration  and  immigration  of  their  citi- 
zens and  subjects  respectively  from  the  one  country  to  the  other 
for  purposes  of  curiosity,  trade,  or  as  permanent  residents.  The 
high  contracting  parties,  therefore,  join  in  reprobating  any  other 
than  an  entirely  voluntary  immigration  for  these  jmrposes. 
They  consequently  agree  to  pass  laws  making  it  a penal  offense 
for  a citizen  of  the  United  States  or  a Chinese  subject  to  take 
Chinese  subjects  either  to  the  United  States  or  to  any  foreign 
country,  or  fora  Chinese  subject  or  a citizen  of  the  United  States 
to  take  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  China  or  to  any  other  for- 
eign country  without  their  free  and  voluntary  consent  respect- 
ively. 

Art.  6.  Citizens  of  the  United  States  visiting  or  residing  in 
China  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges,  immunities,  or  exemp- 
tions in  respect  to  travel  or  residence  as  may  there  be  enjoyed 
by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation  ; and,  re- 
ciprocally, Chinese  subjects  visiting  or  residing  in  the  United 
States  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges,  immunities,  and  exemp- 
tions in  respect  to  travel  or  residence  as  may  be  enjoyed  by  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation ; but  nothing 


THE  LATE  TREATY  WITH  CHINA. 


681 


herein  contained  shall  be  held  to  confer  naturalization  upon  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  in  China,  nor  upon  the  subjects  of 
China  in  the  United  States. 

Art.  7.  Citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  enjoy  all  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  public  educational  institutions  under  the  control  of 
the  Government  of  China,  and,  reciprocally,  Chinese  subjects 
shall  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the  public  educational  institu- 
tions under  the  control  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
which  are  enjoyed  in  the  respective  countries  by  the  citizens  or 
subjects  of  the  most  favored  nations.  The  citizens  of  the  United 
States  may  freely  establish  and  maintain  schools  within  the  em- 
pire of  China  at  those  places  where  foreigners  are  by  treaty  per- 
mitted to  reside,  and,  reciprocally,  Chinese  subjects  may  enjoy 
the  same  privileges  and  immunities  in  the  United  States. 

Art.  8.  The  United  States,  always  disclaiming  and  discour- 
aging all  practices  of  unnecessary  dictation  and  intervention  by 
one  nation  in  the  affairs  or  domestic  administration  of  another, 
do  hereby  freely  disclaim  any  intention  or  right  to  intervene  in 
the  domestic  administration  of  China  in  regard  to  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads,  telegraphs,  or  other  material  internal  improve- 
ments. On  the  other  hand,  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China 
reserves  to  himself  the  right  to  decide  the  time  and  manner  and 
circumstances  of  introducing  such  improvements  within  his 
dominions.  With  this  mutual  understanding,  it  is  agreed  by 
the  contracting  parties,  that  if  at  any  time  hereafter  His  Impe 
rial  Majesty  shall  determine  to  construct  or  cause  to  be  con- 
structed works  of  the  character  mentioned,  within  the  empire, 
and  shall  make  application  to  the  United  States  or  any  other 
Western  power  for  facilities  to  carry  out  that  policy,  the  United 
States  will,  in  that  case,  designate  and  authorize  suitable  engi- 
neers to  be  employed  by  the  Chinese  Government,  and  will 
recommend  to  other  nations  an  equal  compliance  with  such  ap- 
plication, the  Chinese  Government  in  that  case  protecting  such 
engineers  in  their  persons  and  property,  and  paying  them  a rea- 
sonable compensation  for  their  services. 


AGENTS  WANTED. 


We  are  now  publishing  and  will  hereafter  issue  by  subscription, 
as  the  public  demand  them,  Standard  Works  of  the  highest  literary  and 
mechanical  excellence,  which  will  in  all  cases  be  books  of  permanent 
value,  equal  in  all  respects  to  the  descriptions  given  in  the  Prospectus, 
and  will  be  sold  at  such  low  prices  as  will  place  them  within  the  reach 
of  all  classes. 

It  is  and  will  be  our  aim  to  issue  only  such  works  as  will,  from 
their  sterling  worth,  entitle  them  to  a place  in  every  library  and  in 
every  household  throughout  the  land,  and  will  be  a credit  to  the  Can- 
vasser who  introduces  them. 

The  advantage  of  long  experience  in  the  Subscription  Book  busi- 
ness, enables  us  to  judge  correctly  of  the  wants  of  the  public  and  of  the 
works  most  readily  sold,  aftd  to  impart  to  Canvassers  valuable  practical 
information  and  assistance  in  their  pursuits. 

All  who  engage  with  us  will  receive  not  only  verbal  directions, 
but  instructions  in  a printed  form  to  guide  them  in  every  step  of  their 
progress.  We  shall  also  in  all  other  suitable  ways  endeavor  to  render 
aid  to  our  Agents,  promptly  attend  to  their  wants,  and  make  their 
employment  as  successful  and  satisfactory  as  possible. 

School  Teachers,  Clergymen,  Students,  Farmers,  Ladies,  and  all 
others  who  want  pleasant  and  lucrative  employment,  are  wanted  to  aid 
in  introducing  the  following  works  which  we  are  now  publishing. 

Circulars  will  be  mailed  promptly  to  any  one  desiring  an  agency. 

For  description  of  Books,  see  following  pages. 

Address  the  Publishers. 


